Jaspers from the "Beeswax Ship"

An ancient candlemaker molded wax
With tiny wicks for prayer to send a light
Along uncertain ways on coasts beyond
Balboa's sea, as yet engulfed by night.

As skirting the new land's unchartred shores
The taper-bearing ship had sailed to reach,
A pounding run claimed the question craft
And all her stores where strewn about the beach.

No timber scrap of ship, no bone of crew
Outlasts the lashing beat upon their graves;
Except that candle fragments, frail and soft,
Remain to send their pleas across the waves.

Although no clue is left of ship or sail,
Unmatched, immortal prayers yet spread a sheen
Like waxen lights aglow, reapting words
Of love for all bewildered worlds to glean.