He of the sea-rat's beard
Eagle eye and scale claw
Testimony of a farewell to men
Anchors away boy, anchors away.
Dark sea night and brine green tide
Vampire running water's bride
Carnival Ferris wheel lights the way,
Lights the way.
Her white dress wet with sea-tears shines,
Blows pale and cotton in the moonlight;
Running water bars the way,
Shocks and convulses with cascade of change.
Their love on dust of dead time dines,
Grows long in shadows on floors of night.
Fading by the light of day...white lite repulses...
vanish into smoke
And oblivion unknown
Until the night returns
With longing, and tears,
And visions of a loved one,
Far away.
See the water run,
Changing,
Rearranging grains of sand,
Never bringing in the tide.
Her white dress wet with sea-tears shines,
Blows pale and cotton after midnight;
The sea-rat groans and shakes
As cursed warmth flows from his eyes.
The ocean winds blow cold
And ripple time across the moonlit waves;
These lost from times of old
Are only new ones born in modern graves;
A union killed by circumstance,
The sea-rat and the sailor's daughter;
Two vampires trapped on distant shores
Share only tears
And running water.
G.S., '83
Photo: Chris Gruenwedel, altered by GS