XI - "Red, Right, Returning"

I know he's the one man who can read me like a book 

And he's the one man, whom I can't read at all

I look in his eyes and this is the one time 

I steady my eyes and summon the courage not to shy away

And I know, he knows, exactly what I'm about to say

There's look in his eyes like a flustered shame

of something he's trying to hide

before I even have the chance to speak

he diverts away his eyes and says,

It's red, right, returning

when your heading back from sea

green on right is a young man's plight

but you know that my dear 

this ship is old

it stays docked at port

it doesn't weather the storm

it trolls the harbor on a blue moon  

but never really creates much wake

the hull is breached 

there's a steady leak

the bilge has all but failed

the hinges' creak, the rudders' weak

it's slowly taking water on

and in time will surely sink

never really know which voyage will be the last

so you keep close to the shore

in case you need to get there fast

and hope there's still a chance

to bail it out by hand

all I can't think to say to lighten the mood

is a crass reply, "like Archimedes' screw"

he asks to sit for a while

the sun casts a solemn hue 

the water's still like glass

and feels like the last

there's not much for me to say

to make him not feel out of place

so I don't say a word

He watches the sun and I watch the lines, 

that have settled in his face

they don't make him weathered

they make him look wise 

and I can see the marks 

were he's tried to pull tight his disguise

And I know, he knows, I know

but I never was one to pry 

it's red, right, when returning to harbor 

we're coming in slow tonight