The Last Evening

He met her after supper by the rail
She said the sea looked darker than before
He laughed and told her oceans always did
Once there was nothing left to see from shore

They walked a while beneath the wireless wires
The engines drummed beneath their measured pace
She asked if New York looked the way they said
He said he'd know it when he saw the place

The ship moved west
The stars held fast

Neither one was thinking of the ice
Neither one was thinking of the sea
They spoke about the years that lay ahead
As people do when years appear to be
Waiting
Waiting
Waiting

She told him of a brother lost to fever
He told her of a shop he'd hoped to own
She asked if he believed in second chances
He said he guessed he'd find out soon enough

The music from the lounge escaped in fragments
A steward crossed the deck and disappeared
Somewhere a child refused to go to sleep
Somewhere a bottle broke and no one cared

The ship moved west
The stars held fast

Neither one was thinking of the ice
Neither one was thinking of the sea
They spoke about the years that lay ahead
As people do when years appear to be
Waiting
Waiting
Waiting

Then somebody ran
Then somebody shouted
Then every sentence changed its meaning

Neither one was thinking of the ice
Neither one was thinking of the sea
The words they said remained exactly where
They vanished into dark posterity
Still waiting
Still waiting
Still waiting

The ocean kept their conversation
The ocean never told it back