Bring him that horizon

Memories of the greatest sailor I knew, who followed sirens home

He told me he could hear the ghosts
They whispered when they spoke
Mad and wiser a man than most
Knew the rocks from the boat
Most that heard him ran and shivered
Put off by the cracking walls
At last he went back to the river
Heeding siren's calls.

He told me that he saw the evil
Otherwise only I knew
When I once clung through life's upheaval
There I had seen it too.
Like every prophet, he was wasted
On all us rock skulled fools
Pumice that we tossed aside
Inside contained a jewel.

We all thought we'd left the shoreline
But only he could sail
Would that I could give him more time
To succeed where we have failed.

(RIP D.L., who has gone on to see
whatever it is that lies beyond the land
Out on the greatest sea.)