Mary, Her Vision of Sailors

What a beautiful life
our days seep into night
as the light fades
from wilting sins
of bleached bones & sailors

that rattle in the breeze
like skulls on a string
that house our decay

Where Mary she dances
with rosary of skulls in her hand

Entwined are thelies
of the sailors who died
jumping from fleets aflame

leaping from gutter
for a vision of Mary & Grace
of grace floating on & on
from candlelit sills gone & gone again

What a beautiful life
a picture of your mother
hung with her face in a smile

driven to madness by the
hands of your father
now lost in his sorrow again
your mother slipped
the metal twine round her neck
as she hung herself in the tub

when the dove's neck it broke
the splattering choke
from the tub to the wall
kicking & flailing & finally

a vision of Mary in red was left on the wall
for crowding sailors to weep over til the dawn

What a beautiful life