Red Sail

 

                                                sketchbook drawing by Frances-Ann Norton

Red Sail

 

I have often stood on the canal bank in a reflective frame of mind

and seen barges, rowing boats and motor boats pass

on the Leeds Liverpool canal.

This one though is a small wooden boat.

The red sail like a parasol catching the sun in its sheeting.

Making it gleam and light up like a flaming arrow in a Viking burial at sea.

The people in the boat are guardians of the dead

travel guides for the After World.

Angels not of this world.

Our time here is so short - over in a season.

The quartzite gravel on the canal-bed cannot contend

with the number of souls of our loved ones.

From the beginning of time right back to Adam and Eve.

Our bodies grow frail and fail and our souls loosen

from our feeble and unreliable bodies

and set off on their journey

to the light, to love, to eternal oneness.

Just step onto the red sailboat

and we will take you there.

[First published in The Maltfriscan Newsletter the Bripper, April 2023].

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