Hull Docks

Standing at night on a dockside in Hull
Watching the ships that lie still in the port
Un-noticed, unseen as a solit'ry gull
Wondering what these grey ships could report

Voyages round the world twice every year
Thrice to Zeebrugge and back every week
Four ocean's crossed and the manifest's clear
Tales there are none though for these ships don't speak

Lie there and wait for the word from the shore
Let go all lines and push off from the side
What was once dormant is living once more
Silently slipping away down the tide

Carrying cargoes to everywhere
Bringing back things from the rest of the world
Enabling commerce  with terms that are fair
Sailing with flags of convenience furled

Then after decades of travelling far
Engines and drive shafts are starting to screech
No longer following its guiding star
Every ship runs up its terminal beach

Though winches and cutters will tear her to bits
That's not the ending for beings like these
The metals will go back to sea as new ships
The stories will linger in crew's memories

The long view

The world's emotions are in play
Just hold your nerve and use your brain
Four years from now Trump goes away
But America will remain

The one that walked away

A thousand miles from anywhere and lonely
Another pair of boots have worn right through
Still thinking about you, my one and only
and things I did I wish I could undo

I left one angry night and started walking
You'd think a thousand miles would be enough
But I still feel your touch and hear you talking
and wish that you had called to call my bluff

The thousand miles behind are soon forgotten
The thousand miles ahead are still unknown
A thousand miles of hopes and dreams gone rotten
A thousand miles to walk with heart of stone

Each thousand miles I ponder on this thesis
A thousand miles for me to think things through
That every step I take along this road is
the first step of my journey back to you

A journey with no end that I'll discover
The road will last much longer than this clay
And you'll move on to live life with another
and I'll remain the one that walked away