published on
Floating in the water
By Manidbles
A bottle came a-bobblin’
by Brighton Beach a-wobblin’;
I fished it out with careful hands
As I sailed past England.
The glass was cloudy emerald
And sparked something ephemeral
Within my heart so curious
I abandoned all injurious
Thoughts of caution to the wind
And shook the contents held within.
Oooooh
A sloshing sound beneath the glass,
Explained by cracks in cork and wax,
Warned me of a sodden treasure,
But did not dampen my own pleasure
At this small discovery
That I found floating in the sea.
Cork and wax gave easily
As if they’d long awaited me,
A silty slurry trickled out
Before the parchment hit the spout
Oooooh
--
Hale hearty sailor! Pray for me,
For my poor heart shall surely break.
My love has taken to the sea,
And left me in his waning wake.
No guiling trinket left behind, go
No lock of satin, flaxen hair,
No laughing bairn will me remind
Of our passionate affair.
Could it be thee who reads this note,
Who sees the ink my pen has bled?
My lover’s eyes, once more afloat
And buoyed by what they have read?
Alas, a stranger, like as not, or
Creature in the briny deeps
Has found this, floating in the water,
While my soul etern’ly sleeps
--
The tangled mess of rags, I think,
Held stains that were, at one time, ink;
Their contents, I would never know.
I chuckled at the curio,
And treasure plundered, shook my head,
Gently laid the glass, and revv’ed
The engine, left there rumbling.
The ocean’s gifts, so humbling,
Are mysteries, and rarely more,
That bob between the waves and shore
Oooooh
- Genre
- Alternative Rock