Join Now
HeaveToo 
8:05pm, November 16, 2009
Sailing Down the Chesapeake
by, M. T. Borders
Tonight I sail
On the stiff back of a gale
Never looking back
Seldom dropping sail
All I have known
Is the lonesome sea
Nothing else has loves so much
and all else I have loved has left me
Last week I docked in Annapolis
When the winds were still
And prayed for a powerful breeze
To give my sails their fill
The next morn I left for Solomin's
Under a reefed Main and a number four
Beating into the waves
In search of another timely moore
Last night I anchored in Tangier
Being chased into port by a Nor-western wind
And held fast in a storm shelter
To wait for the storm's end
And the Bay's water ravaged
As the rain swirrled around
The wind howeled through the rigging
Making that woefull sound.
I think that I will sail to Hampton
And try my luck in the southern Bay
My trusty boat and I sail the breeze
Watching the future fade away
And I pray that God speed my passage
By sending me this powerful gale
For I wish to sail the southern waters
So tonight I sail.
Comments
Awww...that is so beautiful....makes me want to be near the water :(
Great Job!!!!!
harleygirl7145
Some people don't read into it enough to see the dark and lonely overtones in the poem.
"Nothing else has loved so much, and all else I have loved has left me" is just one example of this. Truely, I feel this way sometimes myself.
Beating in sailing terms is sailing upwind. The way that this is accomplished is by sailing 45 degree angles into the wind and tacking back and forth. This is a less desirable point of sail because you, effectively, sail twice the distance.
At one part of the poem I speak of wind howling through the rigging, making that woeful sound. In high winds the wind does make a very unnerving sound through the rigging. It is a howl. Sailors of old would often compare it to that of a woman lamenting the death of her lover at sea.
The poem does end in a hopeful note when it speaks of sailing the southern waters. It is like the subject in this poem sees the future as still being open and not closed.
HeaveToo
Matt, you are an awesome poet. I really like your sailing poems. And, yes, I did catch the undertones of the first stanza there. Very creative and it is very beautiful despite the dark and lonely overtones. There can be beauty in that as well.
Hugs!
wakinyantechate28
Wow, sweetheart ur work gets better and better.Sorry ur feeling so lonely.hugs sweetheart,luv ur friend luci
Lucille6