Vigil

Twilight on a lonely pier
The silent skies of grey
A single gull
Stands motionless
And looks across the bay

Last night, as well the night before,
He kept her company
A little girl
Who waited there
And stared out to the sea

Expressionless and waiting
For a ship that never came
So many others
Landed there
But none was quite the same

So many nights spent silently
No sigh escaped her lips
She never spoke
A single word
But gazed upon the ships

Tonight the gull is all alone
For she will come no more
The memory of
Her silent watch
A ghost upon the shore

The seagull spreads his black-tipped wings
And soars into the sky
And disappears
Into the grey
A final mournful cry


~ © Andrea Grace