I still remember him

Standing amongst bare trees
Atop a rocky cliff that seems to reach the sky,
Stood a lonely man in a lonely world.

Blue eyes like the ocean
Dark stubble dusting his jaw like the dark sand
Rubbing the stub of his missing hand.

It seemed like a pirate’s life for him
Ever wanting to sail the seven seas
looking for buried treasure and drinking rum.
Sometimes singing shanty’s under his breath
or bellowing them out as if the words
would bring him out of his drunken stupor.

I would walk past his crow’s nest vantage point
wondering why, why did he keep returning?
It was obvious he didn’t like the view.

He slowly became an open book to me
His eyes became hard, like they were two sapphires.
His posture stiffened, as if his spine was the mast of a ship.

His past haunted his every step.
A lost boy who was never taken to Neverland,
A lonely boy who became a lonely man.

That loneliness that clung to his heart
was like the Siren’s grasp on a sailor
pulling him deeper...and deeper to drown.

And I was afraid..that he would be consumed by his own darkness
that ate at his heart slowly turning it as dark as storm clouds
that cover the sea with misery and death.

I was afraid
that he would take an extra step
and plummet into the icy waters beneath.

If he would glance at me,
he would instead offer a strained grin
and take a swig from a flask.

It was another version of drowning...
but as his body filled with the bitter liquid
I knew his end would take longer to reach.

Tick...

Tock...

Tick...

Tock...

I couldn’t save him.

I couldn’t help but think about the empty coffin
A plaque that read “Lost at Sea”
A masked truth.

The pirate man didn’t die as a pirate
His vengeance for his love
had driven him over the edge of the cliff.

Whether it was an accident, on purpose,
Or someone had pushed him,
I will never know.

I still remember him.

In his black attire, standing amongst bare trees
Atop a rocky cliff that seems to reach the sky.
But now lost to sea...forever.