You watch the owl cut harbor light
Wings spread wide on cooling air
No hymn book fits this silent flight
Just breath and bone and brine-wet prayer
Harbor ghost on velvet gust
Salt rings form on sandstone rail
Dusk folds wings in amber dust
You belong to no one's tale
Ferry horns sound low vespers
Lanterns bloom on Circular Quay
Your alto hum remembers verses
That no congregation sings today
The opera house sails catch final gold
Owl banks sharp past Mrs Macquarie's Chair
No organ swells, no stories told
Just wind through feathers, hollow prayer
Harbor ghost on velvet gust
Salt rings form on sandstone rail
Dusk folds wings in amber dust
You belong to no one's tale
Choir robes packed in cardboard boxes
Psalms dissolve in harbor spray
You read the night in parallaxes
And let the owl chart the way
Last light strips the water clean
Owl disappears past Bradleys Head
No amen seals this closing scene
Just syllables the tide has read
Harbor ghost on velvet gust
Salt rings form on sandstone rail
Dusk folds wings in amber dust
You belong to no one's tale
You belong to no one's tale
Breath held. Wing beats. Fade.
