As a soft summer breeze blows North from the sea,
And the palms stand caressed by a soft August shower
My heart longs for the East and my eyes want to see
The young maiden who looks like a tropical flower.
Lips uncurled, eyes amiss, our past she recalls,
With her hope almost gone as through void she keeps staring.
Gone the bliss of the kiss as another night falls,
And she stumbles on home, her sarong grandly wearing.
It was years ago when, in tropical lands,
As a soldier and sailor I happened to dally.
My adventurous spirit that pleasure demands
Never wanted to see any gala's finale.
Months went by, drunken sprees, fleshly nights and such things
Just created a feeling of drab satiation.
It was then when Good Lord so suddenly brings
To the cloyed groggy sailors his lustrous creation.
Yes, to me, she just was like a creature of Eden
Lost among earthly things, like a jewel in dirt.
To a sailor such feelings are almost forbidden,
But I felt them not caring whose heart would be hurt.
After notable times and great promises given.
I was ordered to sail my boat on to France
By superiors who, by officiousness driven,
Never cared too much for a sailor's romance.
And I left her alone, in a grimy old haven,
'Twixt old baskets and hawkers and scales of fish;
And she wore her sarong, eyes aflame, hair-raven
Pouted lips like a child who cannot get her wish...
It has been countless months, nights and days, moons and suns,
With her image all filled, her sweet presence reflecting.
Ocean waves that would dance in their endless reruns
Would forever be her dulcet name recollecting.
Wars have passed, decades-gone. Many changes took place
In my life as my hair got tainted with silver,
But I still can't forget her ethereal face
And my feelings for her in my heart gently linger.
And somehow I feel, in this life or the next,
We are destined to cross our footpaths "de novo".
I don't care if eternity gives me a test,
I will love her forever and many times over.
In the meantime, I yearn, overlooking the sea,
As the palms stand caressed by a soft August shower.
My heart longs for the East and my eyes want to see
The young maiden who looks like a tropical flower.
