RATTLING ALONG

Rattling along the old road
from planet to planet,
watching the starscapes
bumping past the windows;
patching up the radar
for the tenth time,
I find myself brooding
on the older times, on the memories
with the fur worn away from their edges.

Recalling the skinscapes
of breast and thigh;
considering the ways
of a number of women;
pondering the causes
of my seven bankruptcies ...
Why did the Magellan Line,
my greatest triumph, my vindication,
overnight crumble to a dust, a nothing?

Remember lying in bed
a century back,
with an open window,
an ornate balcony
and distant mountains
lit by a full moon.
A night-bird shrieking
had woken us both, we turned together
in the warm air, relaxing: a good time.

Buying my first ship,
a millennium ago now:
do I remember that,
or has it all changed in my mind ?
Can I turn this one wreck
into yet another fleet,
or have I discovered nothing
from all that money, all that beauty,
those ships that have passed through my hands ?

At least, this run will be profitable;
at least Alice (or is it Rose?)
is waiting for me ...