to sail the sky -

* For Mary Kathleen Lessard Caithness * ~ cast tie-lines to shadowy depths above meteors to plunge the ocean of suns kick off - tally-ho! from the pier of known a scoundrel's nod to the skull and bone vast skies uncharted now beckon ahead a dusk of dreams splashed yellow and red naught but astounding, the adventures be an endless sojourn 'cross a sparkling sea the sky-palette waits for a score of tales come a warm solar wind to puff the sails all worries and why's now, abaft the beam! set our course due for a foolish dream! a celestial tempest to bend the jack to his tasking a-hold the kicking strap stem the tide, aye, mind the moonbeam drift spread her wings wide and give her lift the sextant's now set to the Milky Way (we'll grave her clean on a windless day) to port side, a wink from the Seven Sisters off starboard, the gleam of nebulous vistas we sunder the clouds with our wake of mist now dark matter deep and heaven-kissed tossed by the waves through a sea of night we gasp for the void, yet we drown in light our spirits denuded and paean-versed we dare constellations to do their worst for now we all pull to the labor at hand to chart the expanse of this boundless land at the bidding and mercy of a rapturous breeze three prayers for fair winds and following seas 'til our hearts are sated and our marrow torn and we drop our anchor there, worry-worn … on the sands of time, we'll commend our dance and return our dust ... to the great expanse. ~ 1st Place ~ in the "Sky" Poetry Contest, Anthony Slausen, Sponsor. ~ 1st Place ~ in the "Best Rhyming Poem 2018" Poetry Contest, John Hamilton, Sponsor. ~ Poem of the Day ~ at Poetry Soup.com, awarded February 1, 2018.