SEA MEN

SEA MEN

Ricardo Antonio Garcia

The Sun is beginning to descend

and the muting light

penetrates the haze in my eyes

as a kiss would be a special gift.

The glass windows on the boats

speak of their reflections

and islands drift in and out of me.

Such a legacy of sea

and persistent wave of light

for fishermen see these delights

as the day becomes done.

Nets rolled off to shore

stitched and mended by their hands

like their parents before them

the gleam of the Sun

shadows their smiles and mirth.

When honest hands

do an honest profession, God is

the ruler that guides them

and ship by ship they return to harbor,

less the sinking

of these brave and proud men.

A statue at the foot of the harbor

and all of their names

endure the ages inscribed.

Echoes of working men and women

fallen by the sea …