I sat on a wall

I sat on a wall

Biding my time

Getting a breath or two

After a brisk walk

Six miles, give or take

Puffy passengers disembark

The big cruise ship

Tired looking people

With weathered faces

Wheeling battered cases

That sport day-glow stickers

From around the globe

Their voyage is done.

The well-heeled are

Taking the air

Off ship for the day

Whisked away

In air-conditioned coaches

To visit a goldmine

Or the zoo

As if there wasn’t enough wildlife

Draped in gold on board ship.

What is all the fuss about?

Three thousand souls

Cast adrift

In each other's company

With no escape.

Dueling is outlawed

Unless sea rules apply.

The captain cuts a godly figure

In his uniform

Tropical whites and gold braid

Enough for a monarch

A social butterfly.

Does he dream of icebergs or conquest

Marriages are conducted

Divorces too

Is my guess.

Perhaps there is duplicity

Prospero

Madness and shipwrecks.

The wind tugs at my skin

As a gentle reminder

Of its unseen power,

Ruthless edge.

I am happy where I am

Left to wonder why

The owners of a cafe

In prime location

Have not renewed the tattered

Awning.

The ragged edges sway

Just above the heads

Of the diners

Barely escaped canvas themselves.

Oh how would they have fared

In a sailing ship

Without sea legs.

Spreadeagled on a bed

For the duration

Waiting it out

Until the tempest subsided

The madness ended.

We who would be pilgrims

Best served

On dry land

With all the other

Landlubbers.

Wishing they could fly

On the wings of a dove.