Friday, March 9, 2018

AllI Ask...

I so admire poetry, and poets—it is not my forte. But here is one of my favorites(you might recall a line of it from the original Willy Wonka). The theme plays heavily in much of my writing—not necessarily the sailing, but the resignation, the melancholy. Not despair, but loss, and the subsequent road ahead. Coping, and trying to appreciate the many blessings, often the simple things, which remain.

Are there common themes in your work?



Sea Fever

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;
And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking.
 
I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied; 
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.
 
I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull’s way and the whale’s way where the wind’s like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.