"A light upon the water",

I hear the skipper sing,

and I wrap my blanket tighter

as the wind begins to sting.

"What is this light?", I ask him,

"and what omen does it bring?"

For light can be beginning or the ending of a thing.

-

"It may be just a lantern",

he stated in reply,

"They release one for each sailor,

on the evening which they die."

And I shiver all the more tonight

(such thoughts can make me cry.)

And when they spy me sighing, they take care to ask me why.

-

It takes me time to answer,

and they fidget as I dodder.

"We are clay within the hand

of a gentle, loving potter.

I know He cares for each and all,

His faithful sons and daughters.

But nothing tears my heart out like a lantern on the water."

-

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