The Old Man And The Sea.

A few years back, but not too long ago.

I saw an old man who sat hours by the sea.

He sat there with a wistful stare and dreamy eyes.

Hour after hour he sat; alone in his thoughts.

I walked by a time or two and said hello and then goodbye.

Still he responded not and just stared out across the sea.

He uttered not a sound; the oceans gentle roar his only friend.

I wondered of his thoughts; I pondered deeply of his dream.

Yet I found no conclusion; no answers to this the old man and the sea.

The tide now came and went; and the old man just stared and wept.

Then without warning, he raised a crooked and gnarled hand.

And he waved a salutary wave at that unseen and distant land.

He then arose and turned his sunburned back to the open sea.

Not once did he turn for a last look as he disappeared in a small grove of trees.

Who was this old man, and who or what was it in his mind did he see?

Was he a warrior of some foreign war and in his last days reliving his grief?

Or was he just remembering when he was a young man who sailed the sea?

I guess that I will never know who the old man could be.

Yet as I too turned to walk away…I heard a song in my mind play.

“Brandy you’re’ a fine girl, but my life, my lover, my lady is the sea”.

Hmm I thought, could he be the one who brought Brandy the finest silver from the north of Spain?

Nah…it was just a song… or was it?

J. Allen Wilson 6/6/08