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The Daisy Bree

I stood back on the quay and watched them
Raise the anchor, trim the sail,
Haul the spinnaker up to catch
The gusting breeze once under way;
They slipped out past the Harbour gates
And with them went my heart, my dreams,
As bitter fortune made it plain
That life is never all it seems.

My friend from childhood, Roger Cain,
My childhood sweetheart, Alice Drew,
They'd tied the knot an hour before
In secrecy, I never knew!
I'd thought that we had time enough
To sort it out, she'd made it plain:
'You either marry me, or else...'
She'd patted down the counterpane.

I didn't see her then for days,
She'd said that she was overdue,
I mulled it over in my mind
Not knowing what to say, or do.
I should have said I'd marry her,
I should have said a lot of things,
It's only through our own mistakes
We find out what misfortune brings!

I'd thought that I could trust a friend,
That love was steadfast, strong and true,
I'd thought that I could make amends
Not knowing what she'd think or do.
She'd thought more of her name, it seemed,
The fear of scandal muted love,
And Roger, he just took his chance,
Proposed, and she just thought, 'Enough! '

We'd sailed as boys out in the bay,
We'd dreamed of owning ketches, yachts,
When Roger's father died, he left
Him everything, and that was lots!
He bought an old-time sailing yacht
With work to do, the 'Daisy Bree',
And left me on the shore while he
Went gallivanting out to sea.

We'd grown apart, for well I knew
That he had lit a torch for her,
My Alice Drew, who thought it sweet
But I... I felt my anger stir!
He showed her over the 'Daisy Bree',
She helped him clean the galley there,
I should have nipped it in the bud,
Or at the least, been more aware!

Now they had gone, a honeymoon,
To sail away to Hobart Town,
I wandered off the quay in tears,
I drank until my feelings drowned.
I heard they'd got there safely, then
Were heading out to sail due west,
And that was all! Three weeks went by,
The 'Daisy Bree' was listed - 'Lost! '

My mind was in a torment, bleeding
Blamed myself each day, anew,
She came into my dreams, just pleading,
'Rescue me! ' said Alice Drew.
Thinking of the seed she'd carried,
Of the child I'd never see,
I cursed the name of Roger Cain
For bringing on this misery.

The Search and Rescue people flew
A thousand miles of ocean squared,
But not a sign of the 'Daisy Bree'
Was seen, or so I overheard.
'They may have been blown way off course, '
I heard a captain tell his mate,
'Down in Antarctic waters there,
I can't think of a crueler fate! '

I flew the fifth week down to Hobart,
Phantoms roamed my tired mind,
Alice now was lean and drawn,
With sunken eyes, she looked quite blind.
Every time I slept she came
And glared at me across the sea,
Icebergs floated by in dreams
As she croaked: 'Find the Daisy Bree! '

I went to rent a yacht myself,
One I could manage on my own,
I didn't want to raise alarms
My destination, then unknown!
I sailed out in the dead of night
And headed south, so I could see
If I could put to bed at night
All hope, or find the 'Daisy Bree'.

For days I sailed, the seas grew high
The 'Aspen' wallowed in each trough,
I rugged up well and stayed awake
Invigored by the coffee pot.
I started seeing floating icebergs
Broken from some distant shore,
My eyes grew weaker by the day...
I wondered what I'd come here for?

Another week went by, and I
Had turned to rest my weary head
When out to starboard, there I saw
A sight that filled my soul with dread!
A yacht with sails that blew in tatters,
Stripped and iced, it wallowed free,
Straining through a 'scope, I saw
The legend there, the 'Daisy Bree'.

Waiting 'til the wind had dropped
I pulled along the side to check,
Lashed her fast to 'Aspen's' side
Then leapt aboard the ice bound deck.
Kicked the cabin door to break
The ice that sealed it from the sea,
Down the steps, into the cabin,
Down inside the 'Daisy Bree'.

Roger lay there in the passage
Stripped and cold and very dead,
One arm missing from the shoulder,
One great gash across his head.
Alice sat both fat and wizened
Blind, but wary in the dark,
'Listen child, ' she whispered, 'Harken! '
Then picked up her knife and fork!

3 August 2009

poem by David Lewis Paget
Added by Poetry Lover
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