Cold salt spray rains down
Winds like daggers frost the soul
Of hearty sailors
Death may lie on the next swell
On their way to calm waters
Such is their lover
Both cruel and kind on a whim
With no emotion
She is as she’s always been
Nature’s passionate abyss
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Icy froth crashes over unshod feet,
Numbing and cramping as they slowly sink into sea-washed sand,
Pant legs soaked with limitless brine.
The gale whips up waves dressed in white one after another,
Chilling me to the bone with cold excitement,
Breath and spirit become one with the undulation.
Sting of salt spray does not deter as I spy the fractured horizon,
Dreaming of serving on the distant freighter
Rising and falling with the swells on it’s way to exotic ports.
What better life is there than to work shoulder-to-shoulder with your brethren
Under sun and on sea,
Conjoined with the natural forces overhead and underfoot.
Were it not for you my love– this destiny I would have fulfilled,
But alas…it was not to be,
For I love you more than the sand, the sun and the sea.
So here I stand,
Looking out on what might have been,
Joyful for what is
And content with what will be.
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Image Credit: startedsailing.com
Breeze catches my sails
Crystal waters lap the hull
This is paradise
~
~~ Dominic R. DiFrancesco ~~
Gentle waves caress the hull,
As a lover to it’s mate,
Soft undulations fostering a grand dream.
Gulls sound their lullaby,
Urging on this docile behemoth,
Fashioned of wood and pitch.
Sun warming the salt bleached deck,
Whilst beams reflect off whitecaps crest,
Blinding as diamonds are beautiful.
Cool breezes buffet weather worn sails,
Placidly rolling port and starboard,
Slicing onward through gulf born swell.
Spar raised skyward,
Touching heaven with square sail unfurled,
Carried by the breath of angels.
Acrid spray stings,
Overpowering the bulkhead in swarms,
Showering planks with briny ice.
Days last glow cast shadow approaches,
Salt sea air begs sailors slumber,
Beckoning twilight to take the helm.
Timber creaks with waves touch tender,
As starlight hails sunsets mate,
The moon assumes this maidens master.
What ports ahead in waters uncharted,
Daybreak’s charge determines the way,
To stern bid farewell the fore she must go.
Dom DiFrancesco 