John D. Bridgers M.D.
Home
Click Shaggy to return to the home page
Memoirs and personal remembrances

Dedication  About  Shaggy Dog Chronicles  Crick  Naval Years  Medicine  Edie  Edie's Family  Teakwood Ballads  Contact  Related links 


Teakwood Ballads
An Apse at Sea


It came to me at war at sea,
     seen from a rolling deck above.

I sat in line awaiting time
     for the wind to get me borne.

It appeared not then a time of hawks,
     but instead a day of doves --

'Twas the hour of worship
     on a salty Sabbath morn.

 

On launching trek I rose the  deck
     and soared aloft from off the bow;

My mates and I all turned toward Guam
     fast into the path of harm.

We flew 'neath a lowering layer of cloud
     'midst a misty, squally shower --

Came then to light a wondrous sight
     as we passed beneath the storm.

 

At noon-day nigh the sun was high --
     shone straight down through the clouds,

With silver shafts extending there
     as stained-glass colors line the sky.

While arches joined their tops it seemed,
     by hap mere images of mind,

Yet, a vaulted apse did I descry.

 

Why exactly came then such a scene
     at high communion time?

A heavenly sight of great delight
     in war's tumultuous clime.

It was simply chance, will many say --
     just mere coincidence,

But in my mind it's still constrained
     a half-a-century since.


Back to Teakwood Ballads index

Click Shaggy to return to the home page
Home
Creative Commons License
John D. Bridgers M.D. by Carl Bridgers is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Copyright ©