I sail my work like the captain
of a great golden galleon,
gleaming in the sun
and fit for the worst storm.

I know it in its great gaffs and masts,
touch bail, block and bowline,
hear transoms and turnbuckles,
see the fragile zones of tack and tiller.

I am expert at filling mainsail and jib
with winds that shift and stir our travel
and make our vessel part the oceans
with majesty and glory.

But elegant dolphins dance about
this lumbering barnacled mass
and laugh at the awkward hulk of
this fat skulking slug of the sea.

02/11/2002

Posted on 02/11/2002
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