Richmond K Turner -- Arriving

Richmond K Turner - Arriving

There was a slight chill in the air
That warm sunny morning in Rosy Roads.
She shivered as the tugs pulled her
Away from the pier for the last time.

Not willing to let go of her mission,
She seemed to be hanging on.
It was as though the ghosts of her crew
Were there holding her fast.

Her bonds were reluctantly broken,
and she was hauled to that point,
That pinprick speck on the chart
Where her fate laid waiting.

She split the waves that morning
No longer under her own power,
She bucked and heaved against
Those threads that haunted her.

As she sailed over the trench
King Neptune, Davey Jones,
And all the denizens of the deep
Assembled to stand at attention.

They gave her a hand salute
As she passed in final review.
There were no tears or sadness
Only the honor of silent tribute.

There were other shipmates
Who marked time on her decks that day.
Former sailors who had known and cared for
Her were there as witnesses in the mist.

When the mark was reached
And She was moored on the sea,
Her silhouette against the sky
Was like a warrior at the post.

The minutes and hours passed as
She was pummeled and hammered.
Her passages and voids filled themselves
Like the chambers of the hourglass.

The general quarter stations were empty
As she made her way into the sea.
Her wounds lay open, there were
no shoring parties to save her.

Her groans grew faint as she passed into the abyss,
Where the cold and the darkness enveloped her.
Only the breath of thousand sailors came to
mark the surface where she had been.

She's serving there now, a silent sentry,
A commander of the deep.
Her spaces lay quiet, filled only
with our memories of her moments in the sun.

Sailors still claim to hear
the echo of her soft strong bells
Ding Ding, ding ding, ding ding
Richmond K Turner – arriving.

*** Note the USS Richmond K Turner was a United States Guided Missile Cruiser that served for 30 years before being decommissioned and sunk as a target for a military excersise off the coast of Puerto Rico on Aug 9, 1998. Her old crew misses her...