Ode to a Pilgrim
This non-rhyming poem is based on my short memoir, ‘The Evening Watch’. It is largely written in iambic pentameter. However, I have tried to vary the metre significantly in several places to allow for a change of rhythm and musicality. As I beheld the fading light of day, The trade winds gathered from the south and east, White-crested waves broke hard against the hull, To cast cascades of spray upon the breeze. A scattered flight of calling migrant birds Bore witness to our steady progress south, And called me from my watchful solitude, Beneath the blushing pinks and gold of dusk. The unruly breeze brought sooty terns to feed And seek their prey among the dancing waves, Then soon, the albatross came soaring by, In silhouette against the twilight sky. As heaven’s amber hues gave way to night, In gusting wind, that pilgrim stayed beside The ship, to fly within my widest reach, And hold me fast with watchful gimlet eyes. With skill and stately grace, our pilgrim Discerned her path across