What Is Joy

What is joy, and why has it left me?
Did it begrudge braving the waves at my side,
Biding its time until it was time to flee? 

Once, the winds, fair and gentle, added frosting to the sea.
And peacefully we moored, ever leeward, at eventide.
What is joy, and why has it left me?

Once, it was there, in the screeching of seabirds on their fishing spree,
In dying rosy the horizon and pushing cruel clouds aside, 
Biding its time until it was time to flee.

Summer rain was drops of pearls come to rest upon the lea.
Back aboard, the suite unfurls, and the ketch starts to glide.
What is joy, and why has it left me?

Sustained by winds and lush with light, at dusk I reach the quay.
The morrow will bring another feast, if I am to believe my guide,
Biding its time until it was time to flee.

That cruel clouds indeed were gathering, I couldn’t, wouldn’t, see,
Or that under glittering azure ripples cutting shoals do hide.
What is joy, and why has it left me? All the while
Biding its time until it was time to flee.