The Sailor

 

I have given my heart to a sailor,

who needs not to need

and the only thing I’m afraid of

is where I’ll finally be.

 

Said I have given my heart to a sailor,

who needs not to need

and the one true thing I’m afraid of

is that it will be me.

 

Oh the evening nights they are tepid,

and my days go inching on

if I said I was not waiting

then you’d know that I was wrong

for my heart I gently placed it

in the pocket of his coat

and wherever he takes it,

with him it surely goes.

 

By the harbor I find myself standing

silent and alone,

and the evening stars they are messengers

I use to guide him home.

 

For I have given my heart to a sailor,

who need’s not to need

and the only thing I’m afraid of

is how long that it will be.

 

For the human skin it is fragile

and the soul a gaping hole

where passion recklessly bathes

and pain freely goes.

And I think of the invisible,

the future and his eyes,

and I think of my breast, my womb

and my thighs.

 

I have given my heart to a sailor

whose need is not to need

and the only thing I’m afraid of

is that it won’t be me,

and the one true thing I am afraid--- of

is that it will never be.


© Coleen T. Houlihan