Ship Of Daylight Poem by Felix Bongjoh

(i)

In the dome
Of light
Flapping cotton wings of air
Through an alabaster screen,
You set sail,

O ship of daylight,
Where do you next
Carry me
To, as I float
In my clouds
Over a storm wave?

As winds blow stronger,
The sailor buried
In a deep sleep
Floating in moth wings
Over a furnace's breeze?

(ii)

Ship of daylight,
Your hull
My ruffled skin
Full of pores

That must be filled
With brick-layered flesh
And the only bones
That hold me together
Like a fig trunk's nerves,

Let my breezy breath
Spin the mizzen
And foremast to wheel me

Through stormy waters
Of a bright day
Of linen and cream moths
Hanging in the air.

A day dished out
By sun in a cream crystal
And platter a storm
Cuts in dressed
In a rainbow
Handing over its spectrum
Carrying every ray
Of the stormy sun to spade me

Through muddy waters
To a shore
Glistening with fish

Just loaded
From other boats
Tugging
The same wavy waters
On a chameleon
Bright day,

When daylight's clock
Chimes midnight
Under a rainy chiffon sky
Your drifting ship
By night's cliff
Hooting with an owl.