Close your eyes, young sailor,
gently push away from the dock.
Let your seaworthy mattress
float like a vessel upon waves of rest,
oars slicing through dream-swells
that rise and fall, shadowing
the soft rise and fall of your chest.
Your breath, a gentle breeze,
carries you to distant lands
under the gaze of watchful guide-stars
that chart your course
and softly steer you home again
to the early blush of dawn
where memories quickly fade,
like mist under morning sun.
Written in response to Merril’s prompt “Sail into a Poem” over at d’Verse. We were encouraged to… “write a poem about boats/ships, boating of any sort. You may write an ekphrastic poem using one of the given paintings for inspiration. There is no set form; write in free verse, write a haibun, Golden Shovel it, write a sonnet, a cinquain, or a ballad.“
I’ll admit to taking some creative liberties with the boats or boating assignment, but the winds picked up and this is the direction my thoughts sailed!
The Truth About Tigers 