Tall Ships | This poem created by Rose Ann Penney in response to Eat, Sleep, Write's Poetry Prompt. |
The Spirit of Norfolk
On the Elizabeth River
Our first trip together
With sails billowed high
Virginia’s for Lovers
Their license plates claim
We gave them a show
There was no one to blame
Whispers, stage style
Newlyweds they assumed
I wasn’t a bride
He was not the groom.
The ocean was dark
When I sent him away
I whimpered to Fate
I don’t want to play.
She turned a deaf ear
He came back with a ring
And the look in his eyes
Showed he cut all his ties
I had led him too far
To refuse, turn my ear
So I packed, we traveled
And ended up here.
Another tall ship
Lady Washington called
She sailed on the Sound
Mock battle bound
No billowing sails
The seas deadly calm
We stood at arm’s length
No whispers, no bond
His eyes even then
Were roving its true
I wasn’t sure how
But I know that I knew
There have been
Other sails hoisted
Between those two
Ships disembarked
More than a few
No tall ships,
They’re small ships
Some cancer, a scare
A surgery, recovery
Some pills, lots of care
I came back much stronger
Than I ever had dared.
The last ship I ditched
After losing the game
Heart broken, voice faded
Mind following fast
But I never surrendered
My will to get past
A life based on lies
And needs not my own
I’m stronger I’m happy,
Now I’ll be known
As the woman who
Writes and stands on her own.
On the Elizabeth River
Our first trip together
With sails billowed high
Virginia’s for Lovers
Their license plates claim
We gave them a show
There was no one to blame
Whispers, stage style
Newlyweds they assumed
I wasn’t a bride
He was not the groom.
The ocean was dark
When I sent him away
I whimpered to Fate
I don’t want to play.
She turned a deaf ear
He came back with a ring
And the look in his eyes
Showed he cut all his ties
I had led him too far
To refuse, turn my ear
So I packed, we traveled
And ended up here.
Another tall ship
Lady Washington called
She sailed on the Sound
Mock battle bound
No billowing sails
The seas deadly calm
We stood at arm’s length
No whispers, no bond
His eyes even then
Were roving its true
I wasn’t sure how
But I know that I knew
There have been
Other sails hoisted
Between those two
Ships disembarked
More than a few
No tall ships,
They’re small ships
Some cancer, a scare
A surgery, recovery
Some pills, lots of care
I came back much stronger
Than I ever had dared.
The last ship I ditched
After losing the game
Heart broken, voice faded
Mind following fast
But I never surrendered
My will to get past
A life based on lies
And needs not my own
I’m stronger I’m happy,
Now I’ll be known
As the woman who
Writes and stands on her own.