Vapour maiden

To the tilting sway of ocean lullabies,
He stood aloft his creaking vessel.
Immersed in maritime harmonies,
And the rhythm of cresting waves,
He was hushed, like a babe in tender arms.

He waited for her at the bow;
Patient like a returning soldier's lover.
His eyes scoured the heavens
and panned the entirety of a lavender horizon,
until she revealed her form.

Light reflections
and atmospheric mood
determine her appearance;
But today,
Under endless skies, she wore white.

A mass of rumpled petticoats
spill from under her skirts.
They billow with the memory of sweet promises;
revealing themselves as silver threads
embroidered into the hem.

A crown of sunbeams strain through soft tresses;
cirrus wisps trailing behind her.
But with eyes cast down,
She appeared despondent,
For a vapour maiden's life is fleeting.

He gazed upon his illusive vision
until her windswept fate over came her;
smearing her luminous features,
and swallowing her subtle radiance
And gentle form.

Her vanishing breaks the spell cast over him.
Their brief interlude is like a window to her world;
A world where the sea meets the sky at the horizon
And should he choose to follow her,
A vapour maiden who will lead him safely home.