​Silently, I pray each and every night
to the stars lighting up the dark sky
that I will never see or feel your shadow,
hear you incoming soft steps.
You may be the enemy
however you are a human being.
 
My job is to guard the sleeping soldiers,
protect them so they wake in the morning.
My troop is relying on me for this
and I will ensure this does happen.
 
As you creep around our camp,
trying to deceive me,
I think you must have a family
that you would like to embrace again.
It is the same in our tired barracks.
The troops have wives and children
they wish to see and laugh with.
My eyes will find your shadow
and guarantee they will see their family.
 
Sadly, I have taken life,
as I assume, my night crawler,
that you have too.
We both have a duty.
It is not personal.
 
I have a duty that takes courage,
feeling that you have the same.
You are a person that is forced to be here.
Remember as you sneak, so am I.
I am the Sentinel
that will not let you through.
 
December 1, 2020
©Andrew Scott - Just A Maritime Boy 2020

​Though no one saw me,
I was there through every moment.
 
The blaze that took over London
in the mid seventeenth century.
Three days of an inferno,
taking way homes and lives,
leaving a burnt path of embers.
I was there as the wind
that carried the flame
from the King's Baker.
Not one felt myself
as the blower of the fire.
 
When the shot was fired,
killing Franz Ferdinand
causing England
to declare was on Germany
the bullet was guided
for the world conflict,
the first great war,
over four years,
piles of bodies, brothers and sisters,
by my invisible hand.
 
That peaceful day in 1945
in the small place of Hiroshima,
destroyed by the first big bomb.
Leaving radiation intertwined
with the breathing air
causing melting heat
that was felt for decades after.
I was the unseen creator
of the ultimate destroyer.
 
People believe it is all random
twisted fates of destruction.
I am never seen
by the scared eyes.
Never in the shadows.
My faces are in plain view
This Dark Figure is always missed.
 
November 24, 2020
©Andrew Scott - Just A Maritime Boy 2020

For the crew, I have to steer us through this.
The nor’easter came on so suddenly.
Clear, blue skies to grey violence
without a clear warning.
 
Day started with checking lobster traps.
A great haul for the day.
Smiles booming all around.
Sailing home would be effortless.
 
Now the crew are below,
can feel their worry
and cries with every rough wave.
We were not prepared for this.
 
Trying to see through the rain.
Thinking of our families,
the ones sitting at home,
staring out their windows
hoping to see their spouses
coming through the door.
 
Up here all I see is darkness
from the pellets of rain.
Direction is purely by instinct
in hopes of finding land,
to dock like any other day.
 
Tense and scared,
heart is pumping in my skin.
Know I do not have
a say in our fates.
It is either the ghost
from the water that will guide
or the unforgiving Nor’easter’s Hands.
 
September 22, 2020
©Andrew Scott – Just A Maritime Boy 2020