In Days & Nights of Waning Gibbous Skies

( a seafarer’s lament )  

 
In days & nights of waning gibbous skies,  
The moon, a yellow pale slip of a girl,  
That I would see o’er yonder on the rise  
From water fresh, to salty ocean pearl.  
 
It was in times of yore when in my youth  
In days & nights of waning gibbous skies,  
I’d yield the way with yardage as my truth,  
For I felt neither foolishness nor wise.  
 
There could not be another for these eyes,  
To beckon me to purple northern lights.  
In days & nights of waning gibbous skies,  
Was all I’d yearn for on this maiden flight.  
 
Like yesterday I saw the coming storm;  
The ship was yaw, would flounder & capsize.  
‘Twas during Yuletide when the Child was born,  
In days & nights of waning gibbous skies.