i saw it again this evening black sail in a pale yellow sky and just as before in a moment it was gone where the grey gulls fly if it happens again i shall worry that only a strange ship could fly and my sanity scans the horizon in the light of the darkening sky that night as i walked in my slumber i waded into the sea strand and i swam with the moon and her lover until i lost sight of the land i swam till the night became morning black sail in a reddening sky found myself on the deck of a rolling ship so far where no grey gulls fly all around me was silence as if mocking my frail human hopes and a question mark hung in the canvas for the wind that had died in the ropes i may have slept for an hour i may have slept for a day for i woke in a bed of white linen and the sky was the colour of clay at first just a rustle of canvas and the gentlest breath on my face but a galloping line of white horses said that soon we were in for a race the gentle sigh turned to a howling and the grey sky she angered to black and my anxious eyes searched the horizon with the gathering sea at my back did i see the shade of a sailor on the bridge through the wheelhouse pane held fast to the wheel of the rocking ship as i squinted my eyes in the rain for the ship had turned into the wind against the storm to brace and underneath the sailor s hat i saw my father s face if a prayer today is spoken please offer it for me when the bridge to heaven is broken and you re lost on the wild wild sea and you re lost on the wild wild sea2