Maps And Charts Poem by David Lewis Paget

For part of your voyage, Captain
I was there at the helm with you,
So young, and the world had flowered,
I caught my breath at the view;
But you stood grim, determined
And saw what I could not see,
You spoke of the storms and tempests
That I had coming to me.

Your words took shape, exploded,
Then burst at my head and heart
Like shooting stars in the sunset,
Like embers, glowed in the dark,
I lost so much of their meaning,
Ignored so much that was said
Your thoughts flashed bright on the water
Then dimmed, went out – despaired.

You tugged at my understanding
Set course for the verities,
I stood for so long behind you
That you merged with the skies and seas,
The breeze snapped long at the mizzen
The spinnaker billowed and flared,
I questioned the ship’s direction
But I doubt if you even heard.

We parted one brave morning
When I took a ship of my own,
Then you drove alone at the sunset
While I made sail to roam,
We’d each glimpse sights of the other
At sea, and in seaports new,
When we’d spark our flints together
As my understanding grew.

Then my storms and tempests claimed me
As you’d said they would at the start,
And sparks came back of your warnings
As I set my course by the stars,
And I tried to grasp your secrets
That had glimmered and glowed in vain,
But you’d set a course for the sunset
And never came back again.

So now in my darkened cabin
I pore over maps and charts
And I set each course for the helmsman
To look for your many parts,
I know that the journey shortens
As the planets wheel and turn,
And you wait for me at the sunset
Where our maps and charts are burned.

26 December 1994