Monday, June 9, 2014

We found the boat above the shore


We found the boat above the shore
            buried in the weeds;
we found the boat above the sea
            covered in debris.
A giant wave had lifted it
            high up into the trees;
the boat had floated down the line
            and rested in the weeds.
Eons of time had come and gone
            and men had done their deeds;
while through all time the boat had sat,
            filled with nature’s seeds.
No path to walk to find the boat
            hidden in the weeds;
pure chance, perhaps, caused us to slip
            among the slender reeds.
We placed our hands upon its bow
            and dragged it from the weeds;
we tore our clothes to make its sail
            far from the thick debris.
We sewed our clothes to make it sail
            upon a glassy sea;
we watched the boat sail from the shore
            toward the open sea,
            toward the open sea.

On Saturday, Eileen Knowles over at The Scenic Route had a post entitled “Romancing the Heart of Stone.” This line caught my attention: “Beauty awakens by romance.”

The post included a video by Rend Collective, a group that have been around for a fe years, but this my first experience with their music. I loved the song, and Eileen’s post plus the song gave birth to the poem above – old-fashioned, to be sure, and rather reeking of the 19th century. But it was great fun to write.


The poem is dedicated to Eileen.




Photograph by Petr Kratochvil via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission

3 comments:

  1. Just discovered your website via Twitter and like it very much. I am especially interested in poetry with a Christian perspective and try to write some myself. Love the boat poem. I think it is well done. I know there are journals that look for traditional rhyming poetry. Do you submit to print (or online) journals?

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  2. Ah...a boat, the salt, the wind, the sea. I had to show up. Well done matey

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  3. Oh my goodness! Thank you, Glynn. You are not going to believe this...but as I was reading your poem the image of that boat from the video popped into my brain! In the back of my mind I thought..."I wonder if that's where the inspiration came from? THEN I read the ending! Your word are beautiful!

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