Porteous
Porteous was well known to us
and tales of her I liked well
Drifting as we were mostimes
within the stellar swell
She rose up on our forward screen
like a great white whalehead
With soft clouds that caressed her
by breezes gently led
I must admit I may be alone
in thinking of her this way
I am the poet ‘pon this ship
as ‘cross galaxies we sway
My crewmates may well just see
yet another port of call
their expectations modest
perhaps miraculously small
A comely maiden of the place
with long and fine white legs,
or a jug or three of Porteous wine,
drunk down to the dregs
But I see more in the docks we ply
and I head off on my own
To see what my mind will make of here
what other sights are shown
But as we approached the mooring point
I could see all was far from well
Poor Porteous had been overcome
by the increasing swell
The grand palaces had all been drowned
and the people they had fled
Some in the Grand Vizier’s balloons
but most were sadly dead
We picked up the survivors
where they clung to the mountaintops
There was no way now they could survive
with no shelter or fresh crops
So another far outpost was gone
as we’d seen so many times
With time each one had killed their world
by altering their climes
So we bade farewell to Porteous,
and raised a last salute
As she faded ‘pon the aftscreen
the piper then fell mute
By KANEIX
© 2008 KANEIX
(All rights reserved)
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