There is a ghostly craft
That floats
Beyond the horizon
Carrying the cargo
Of all the choices
I did not
Could not
Make
The older we grow
The more we unload
Realising
There is only one path we can walk this life
And only so much we can carry
Certain people, certain baggage
So
We bid farewell
As the swell
Carries other parts of ourselves
The ones that did not draw breath
But waited instead
For the shake of the head
Before sadly turning away
Picking up their tickets of leave
Ferried away to the ghost ship
All those lives I did not live
Disappearing
*Perhaps that’s why I love the ocean so much – it brings me closer to the other parts of self I wasn’t able to give life to.
Header photo – Freemantle Port taken a few years ago on a trip with Steve down south.
I’m changing up my Instagram and adding more of my own photography when time allows. Find me here https://www.instagram.com/kate_duff_poetry/
Great work. I especially like these lines:
‘The ones that did not draw breath
But waited instead
For the shake of the head
Before sadly turning away’
Thanks River, so many and not the capacity to choose all.
You’re welcome.
The origins of the ‘multi-verse. 🙂
Wish there was a doorway or a jump rope even – I could happily live out at least a hundred lives on earth simultaneously …then again, who knows, maybe we are – multiverse indeed. Hmm something for my brain to happily pluck the feathers off for the morning. 🙃
🙂
This has a peaceful depth to it
Thanks 😊 it is a peaceful thought
My pleasure
A very haunting piece, Kate. Staring at the ocean makes me feel very fragile and alone. The ocean is so intense and overpowering…..and big.
I love swimming in it Len. We have a place we holiday – the waves can be wild and pick you up and dump you after throwing the body all over the place. There are wonderful look outs where the ocean stretches forever – it truly is immense.
Brilliant. The sooner we let go of this ghost ship, the better. A really good poem
Thankyou !
How I fell in love with the ocean; I once went to a public beach in a beautiful place called Baobab Beach in Kilifi Kenya, Its a public beach so usually you expect to find a couple of people or a few hundreds on holidays.
This day whoever, everything was so different, on a beach that is more than 2.5 km in length I was all alone, all alone with myself until I realized that I was there with the ocean…
Nowadays, I work mostly as a marine surveyor and yes sometimes while traveling by sea I feel like a ghost ship. How do ghost ships feel???😊😊😊
Thanks for your thoughtful comment Charles. I don’t know how a ghost ship would feel but I imagine it would be empty, hollow and a little sad but maybe that’s the wrong way to look at it. Perhaps ghost ships are the party cruise – no expectations, no cares and no onerous responsibility to get things right 😁