A Forest on the Waves

Beneath my feet
Her timbers creaked.
Above me
Canvas billowed
Lines stretched
As pencil etchings.

Her decks were awash
In white spray.
Banners popped in the wind
Like cannon blasts
And the briny air
Stung my eyes.
Like ghosts
Of gone sailors
The lines sang
Keening songs
The exhalation of
Lungs long silent.

To what trackless paths
Is this bow fixed?
What star guides the hand
Grasping her wheel?
What vast depths
Skirts her rudder!

She is a forest on the waves
Masts spiking the swells
Oaks form her planking.
Stout hearts serve her
And the golden wake
Fired by the sun
Marks her way
Evermore.