John, thanks for that comment.
Lawrence
From: lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On ;
Behalf Of John McCreery
Sent: Saturday, September 14, 2019 4:54 PM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Before the Wind
Wow! I grew up on the water. Our home was at the head of a tidal estuary that
flows into Chesapeake Bay. I wasn’t sailing. I was running home in an outboard
motor-powered skiff with the chop rising and black thunderstorm clouds looming
across the angry red sunset behind me. This poem got to me.
John
Sent from my iPad
On Sep 15, 2019, at 7:11, Lawrence Helm <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Sailing before the wind
This long while I
Wasn’t prepared to
See it change, put
Me on a broad reach,
Scrambling below for
My spinnaker half-
Heartedly, settling for
The Genoa and as the
Wind grew, the working
Jib and then the storm.
Fitting this if it’s more
Wind than I can handle,
Limping from stem to stern
Well enough when the weather
Was fair, but this strange wind
Shoves me whither it will.
Now down to my smallest
Sail, gripping the tiller with
Knuckles white I feel
The overwhelming come.
