Upon learning that RMS Queen Mary was designated a building at Long Beach, California.

WITHIN A QUEEN'S SARCOPHAGUS
a cinquain

Sadly,
this edifice
was once a vibrant ship;
a majesty that sailed the seas,
till now . . .

No more
that friendly thrum
of turbines racing round
and round, silence fills that iron
casing.

No wild
briars surround
her sleeping form; no prince
will come to this great Queen full well
knowing

the kiss
of steam will not
breathe life into engines
that kept propellers spinning round
and round.

Silence
haunts that rusting
hull where once was heard the thrum
of turbines racing, racing,
racing . . .

- Francis Kerr Young