This Ship, My Lover

I fall in love, under the shrouds,
Staring up at a clear and star filled sky
Shrouds and lines pointing the way
Joining atop the mast

Stars exploding beyond
Milky way pouring over the side
And Perseids throwing stars down upon me

My heart expands in the silence of this
Star gathered solitude

This ship
My lover

Speaks in hushed tones, her cabins and creaks and hull against the sea
The sway of the waves
Held in the curve of her deck

She whispers
As waves lap on the shore and the breeze gentlly touches my face

Her lines lead me to dreams of wind filled sails and heeled over action
My mind races to the jib and the tack and the movement and the speed
Caught in her rush

But
Now

Water  grounding me to this floating vessel

I am staring up through her shrouds
To a blanket of stars
Waiting for the next one to fall
In silence, waiting

She is mine

For this moment, not another soul is alive

Just her and me