Fast Day 321 August 3 2013 Watch and Chain

Watch and Chain

As we closed up the cottage

he sat alone outside,

upon the old and mildewed bench,

just gazing at the sky;

I wondered if he would return

to look upon the cove;

I wondered then if he would see

another summer’s rose.

Don’t sell my daddy’s wedding ring,

don’t sell his watch and his chain;

don’t sit in the chair that he sat in;

it will only cause us pain.

Fishing lines he no longer knots,

leaving them apart,

he means to clean the tackle box,

but he does not even start;

the ensign and the helmsman

on the gangway of his mind;

he’s walking to the Navy yard:

all memories behind.

Don’t sell my daddy’s wedding ring,

don’t sell his watch and his chain;

don’t sit in the chair that he sat in;

it will only cause us pain.

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