Twilight on Deck

By John Grey

As I grip the railing,
a shadow passes through me,
a cloaked figure strolls a distant beach,
a conversation with a stranger
ends with me talking to myself.

What’s really happening
seems slightly ahead
or a little behind
of what I’m sensing.

My thoughts roll with the sea,
though they’re a vapid current
in the presence of such depths.

But there’s a response at least,
a gentle lapping against the ship
far below.

Then another shadow passes through,
that far away cloaked-figure,
is joined by the stranger I was talking to.

John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident, recently published in Shift, River And South and Flights. Latest books, “Bittersweet”, “Subject Matters” and “Between Two Fires” are available through Amazon. Work upcoming in Levitate, Writer’s Block and Trampoline