A Ship Went Sailing

A ship went sailing,

Sailing on the wind

Above the whispering waves and shivering oceans,

And it was scaling,

Scaling clouds now thinned

That veiled the distant stars’ celestial motions.

Tonight, the curtain’s failing,

Failing to obscure the whole

Whereon the wandering ship is traveling high.

Tonight, our love is trailing,

Trailing after every soul

Remembered like the starlight in the sky,

Whose memories are sailing, sailing,

Sailing back to brush a waiting eye.

I've heard that poetry is best when read aloud, and I think that's often true. I feel it applies especially well to this poem, with its repeated words, the rising and falling rhythm of the lines, and the sustained rhyme that runs throughout. Thematically, this poem offers one imagined scenario of what happens to souls after they pass on - riding upon a ship sailing into the night sky, while those who remember them catch a glimpse from below.