On Watch
Harry Walsh
Some watches at sea
I was so alert
I could see things before they appeared.
Sensing pending arrivals
I would watch a point
on the horizon
until certainly a mast was there,
a needle point of light,
or dawn.
Once I stared at a spot
on the surface of the ocean
beneath which I knew
A whale waited.
I have watched stars
by concentrating on an empty
and dark place in the night.
Watched doors, windows
and miles
waiting for someone
invisible always
but for the turbulence of their passing.
