Swoosh! Crash! The waves pound,
Breaking against the paper door,
As sleep, gently scattered, falls to the ground,
Like a fleeting dream, no more.
Sleep, like black whales in the night,
Swimming far, beyond my sight.
No skill can bring them back to shore,
They drift away, forevermore.
The night deepens, the lamp burns bright,
I fasten my robe, snug and tight.
In the quiet of the third watch, I sit,
As the rain outside whispers bit by bit.
Sleep, like black whales in the night,
Swimming far, beyond my sight.
No skill can bring them back to shore,
They drift away, forevermore.
A longing stirs for distant lands,
The south, where rivers flood their sands.
But in this rain, my solitude grows,
More lonesome than the sea breeze blows.
The scent of the sea, once so dear,
Now only deepens the silence here.
The rain taps gently, but it stays,
Turning my dreams into misty haze.
So I sit, as the night rolls on,
Listening to the rain’s soft song.
And though I yearn for lands afar,
Tonight, I’m held beneath the stars.