Where you live child of sail.
\nBreathing in your slumber
\nagainst the pier.
\nYour open body beckoning.
\nThe swell of passing wakes
\nrolling into the slip,
\nmoving your hold in a gentle rock,
\nThe Whistle Wing.
\nTo a boy that meant
\nmy mother of white sails.
\nDrum of my feet and the echo
\nof your heart
\nas I fell from the wharf
\nto the trellis of your floor,
\nin the bottom.
\nThe bay smelled of algae.
\nGreen dank sweat
\nfrom the water in your hold,
\nkeeping your ribs tight and seaworthy.<\/p>\n
You were more than a boat,
\na sailor on the bay.
\nYou were a ship,
\ngargantuan in the proportions
\nof your limbs.
\nThe great breast of your hull,
\nthe sturdy masts of seasoned express.
\nRegal beyond the proportions
\nof Sandusky Bay,
\nyet graceful as a leaf falling in the wind.
\nWhen we sailed in you,
\nit was passing into a world
\nbeyond sun and wind.
\nWe were entering a sea
\nwhere only the Whistle Wing
\ncould go.
\nSubliminal cold and the fire
\nof glacial light.<\/p>\n
We were in a different kindred silence.
\nOnly the rush of sound
\npassing along the prow,
\nand the slap of the Whistle Wing\u2019s bow
\npossessing the power in the dark wave
\nof the water,
\nleft us liberated,
\nrising above the dimensions of the earth,
\ninto the powers of air and water
\nbelonging only to the ship.
\nIts three sails eclipsing the clouds.
\nThe tiller controlling the powerful surge
\nof its body as it passed
\nbefore those who lived around Sandusky Bay.
\nAmong those eyes that viewed
\nthat stretch of gray expanse,
\nthe dark country of that space.
\nWho saw the ship\u2019s three sails
\nwide as the wings of a great heron,
\npassing before them.
\nThe rare singularity of a spirit
\nthat owned the reach it flew in.
\nOur blessed Whistle Wing
\ncarrying us in its voyages
\nof imaginal destiny.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Where you live child of sail. Breathing in your slumber against the pier. Your open body beckoning. The swell of passing wakes rolling into the…<\/p>\n