Best Ship Poems
POTD 6 Mar 2020
Oh, where are those waves
of bygone days
that caressed and rocked
on hearing you cry?
‘Sleep little ship’ I'd murmur low
while ocean crooned her soft lullaby
Turbulent change wrought by tempestuous winds
Fresh cravings to taste the salted breeze
In foam and spray twixt the now lashing waves
Illusions waft to tempt and tease
Resounding thunder heralds a storm
Streaks of lightning split the skies
Your torch burning bright to take the helm
for selfish reasons my love denies
Indecisions vacillate crucial visions
cavernous chasms far withdrawn
The deeper I think the lower I sink
The wind howls forth a cry forlorn
No delusion with love ~ high the price
In this icy realm my resistance will take
a solicitous change of a Mother’s heart
Look not the shattered glass in your wake
The impulses of the over protective mother and keeping her child sheltered in a bubble away from the real world is just not feasible anymore. The ‘Breaking Point’ is, when she must weigh up her own feelings - either relinquishing her relationship with her offspring by forcing it to stay, or breaking her heart if she lets it go.
Ultimately, as in the ‘Story of Life’…. Love conquers all.
~Happy International Women's Day to those celebrating on Sunday 8th ~
POTD 6 Mar 2020
Lighthouse Litany
Statuesque and stalwart in your seaward gaze
There's such comfort in your beauty, you amaze!
Seafaring ships lost in wayward windswept seas
Conjures fears of drowning in crews prayerful pleas
As sailors catch sight of your luminous light,
You guide them to safety on a moonless night.
Your gift of guidance upon this rocky shore
Lends soulagement to nightmares of mystic lore.
To many you’re deemed an angel with Lord's light
With your elevated beam into the night.
So beloved also by those upon the earth...
You've earned the honors bestowed upon your worth.
12-23-18
Lighthouse Poetry Contest~Third Place~
Sponsor Eve Roper
Darkest Of Days, When His Ship Finally Came Home
A wicked chill, even her house could feel its creep
Tho' silence would not hear its horrific demands.
A dark dream, had awakened her from her deep sleep,
With it, she felt blight and doom had come to her lands.
Day's first somber hour, her heart felt its evil threats,
As old clock ticked away with a deafening roar.
She recited morning prayers, to hedge all her bets,
Went into dirty streets to give aid to the poor.
An angel waiting for ship to arrive in port,
Heart and soul knew, he had been away far too long.
Homecoming, one she prayed weather could not abort,
Time flew by, to docks she raced, love singing its song.
Faith, love and hope filled all her lonesome, aching heart,
With such promises, her wanting nights had been spent.
Sun shown bright, her heart suddenly felt a new start
With merriest of thoughts, onto the docks she went.
Crowd hovering around a blanketed body there
Suddenly her heart felt greatest of her dark fears
Please she prayed,"If its him, tis more than I can bear"
Then she saw, her feet felt wet of her falling tears.
She had ran away, falling down to cry and pray
Looking back, at his ship's flag wave, in wafting wind.
Yet no answer came, Fate had had its dark death way
Answering her cries," Please Lord, let this nightmare end".
A wicked chill, even her house could feel its creep
Tho' silence would not hear its horrific demands.
A dark dream, had awakened her from her deep sleep,
With it, she felt blight and doom had come to her lands.
Day's first somber hour, her heart felt its evil threats,
As old clock ticked away with a deafening roar.
She recited morning prayers, to hedge all her bets,
Went into dirty streets to give aid to the poor.
An angel waiting for ship to arrive in port,
Heart and soul knew he had been away far too long.
Homecoming, one she prayed weather could not abort,
Time flew by, to docks she raced, love singing its song.
Robert J. Lindley, 2-19-2018
Rhyme 12/12,(When Fate Speaks)
NOTE- This was completed this morn, written from an old poem fragment from back in , April 2001. I am trying to finish many of my great many old poem fragments , before my time arrives , as Fate waits for no man!!
A ship is safe in the harbor,
But that's not what ships are built for.
Because in the sum of our human gleams,
We have created the vessel for our dreams.
Its purpose: to retrieve the alien shore,
To scout, seek, achieve and explore.
A ship is meant to fly and fly,
To seize the horizon and capture the sky.
And the few of us with the intrepidity,
To brave the virulent vortex velocity
We are the wealthiest of men ever to dream
And ever to combat a sea or a stream.
And the harbored ships that fritter away,
Slowly begin to rot and decay.
Never has there been a greater waste of a day,
Than that spent harbored,
Than those of us who stay.
As the last opalescent glow of sunset
fades away
I sail this ship alone
towards a crimson horizon
over a starlit sea
to the soft lapping of waves
which lullaby my destiny
I sail this ship alone
far from the coral sand
far from the pebbled beach
far from my sun-kissed land
Tonight there is no moon
but there's a sparkle in the sky
a starry night so still
filled with beacons of bright light
Tomorrow births a new dawn
a song within a dream
meadows of yellow buttercups
and fields of evergreen
Tomorrow I'll be greeted
by a pink-winged butterfly
a host of daffodils, and golden dandelions
a rose within a smile
Tomorrow I stroll along a new shore
feel fresh salt spray on my cheek
dance bare-foot in the wind
as Spring whispers on the breeze.
When the party’s over, the rising sun shines, with all eyes squinting
Make-up smeared on face’s, some have slimy snail skin
A woman waiting for a gent to light her cigarette, just hinting
Last thing she remembered the drink in her cup sink’n in
Alas a smoke from the one glaring all night, even his lighter is glinting
That night she lost her balance, her head, and her Gucci slipper
Though in costume, she didn’t feel like Cinderella anymore
Drunk-on champaign they went out to the marina for a dipper
Everyone dancing all night, felt great, with music galore
At the stroke of midnight, on a yacht, a first mate and his skipper
Swirling in gay abandon in her party dress, putting on a show
The first one to leave is deemed a killjoy in this circle fest
They pulled an all-nighter, ‘neith the shroud of the moon’s luscious glow
The first one to leave the event, was weary, in the state of unrest
The sun is setting, the party is ending, a new day calls, a caravan in tow
A swallow swoops for flitting flies
While Johnny rubs exhausted eyes
(As morning clasps the rising sun)
Confirming Captain’s day’s begun:
Slow streams emerge from melting snows -
The Merchant Ship’s in stark repose...
As Johnny frets with tingling tongue
A Vulture fleeces fields far-flung
(Beneath a bleeding sun above),
And Captain culls the dead with love:
Yes, while the silent water flows,
The Merchant Ship just gulps and grows...
A serpent weaves amongst the weeds
As Johnny dares audacious deeds
(When evening drains the dying day)
To stop the Captain, come what may:
And while the raging rivers grow
The Merchant Ship rocks to and fro...
An owl, a’ branch, has teacup eyes
That glimmer dark as Johnny dies
(Now sown inside the future’s womb)
When flushing Captain to his doom:
Trapped in titanic undertow
The Merchant Ship’s swept down below...
A fledgling bird sprays morning dew
As Johnny Junior’s born anew
(He’s baptised in the dawn ablaze)
To rectify the former days:
Raw rills arise from melting snow
And virgin rivers start to flow...
Scientists say it’s just a mirage,
but sailors claim the ghost ship floats
in air, with stormy seas below.
Again he tries to round Cape Hope.
Captain van der Decken angered God
one savage 18th Century night.
Vowed he’d sail till “Judgment Day,”
to cross the Table Bay, he’d fight.
The Flying Dutchman disappeared
sank deep in foggy, wind-swept sea,
but the captain’s doomed to walk the deck
each night in perpetuity.
His curse prevails in Wagner’s Opera
and Washington Irving’s story;
crews tremble, ghost ship emerges
Dutchman floats in frightening glory.
So many sailors and their ships
still meet demise on starless nights,
when demons steer the Dutchman
and a vengeful God reads last rites.
A solitary sail of contrasting
White in a salty sea of blue.
From its own land, to disconnect,
Why seek a land that's new?
In a friendly sea where the mast bends
From soothing winds it takes heart.
However; it seeks not happiness
Nor from happiness does it depart.
The sea glistens much brighter
Than the warm sun filled sky,
Yet rebellious, it seeks a storm,
As if to find peace within its eye.
Translation by Connie Marcum Wong
Note: A melancholic soul often feels more at home
surrounded by chaos when one has been raised in
constant chaos on the edge.
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Original poem
The Sail
By Mikhail Lermontov
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Literal translation
A lonely sail shows white / against the sea's blue mist. / What does it seek in a distant region? / What has it abandoned in its own land?
The waves play, the wind whistles, / and the mast bends and screeches… / Alas, it does not seek happiness / and is not running away from happiness.
Beneath it the current is brighter than the azure, / above it is the sun's golden ray… / But it, rebellious, asks for a storm, / as if there were peace in storms.
(Literal tr. Donald Rayfield, with Jeremy Hicks, Olga Makarova and Anna Pilkington)
I feel like an old ship
Anchored in the bay,
Too old and slow
To battle storms
Or haul the freight
That pays the way.
I’ve had my turns
On stormy seas
And danced on waves
That threatened me.
I’ve spent my time
On misty isles
And slept with strangers
In lonely ports.
I’ve heard the songs
That nature sings
And drunk the wine
Of slower times.
. . . Now . . .
The journey’s over
The mellow, harbor lights
Of yesterday
Are gone.
I’m anchored in the bay
And people come to see
This old ship
Whose memories hang,
Like shrouds of rope,
Down from the mast.
And, younger ships have come
To take my place upon the sea.
Written while visiting the ship, "Star of India," in San Diego
Send that message
That signal so far
Is there a tower, some beam
That could speak to that distant star
A million miles
Separated
Years on that rocket
Could get anyone jaded
We looked up as kids
That glitter caught our eyes
Stole our hearts
Spun beautiful lies
How pretty those stars were
To we who didn't know better
Now to think, we can catch those dreams?
How silly
How childish of a dream that seems
Those stars and their lovely call
Telling us they weren't really that far at all
How so very pretty they were
To we, captivated, who didn't know better
Should've known better
Years on that ship
In the dark
In the cold
In those places
Where space is
So twisted and uncontrolled
So close we come
To the warmth of that distant Sun
Cast out again
In our rocket we spin
Flung into the deep and the darkness we float again
Lost and trying to find
Blink that message out to
Some other lonely mind
Not sure it will land when we're this far out
Where words fall like feathers
The silence a deafening shout
How so very pretty those stars still are
We do know better
But will still go so far
Through that crystal wall
Cold
Never ending
Straight into those glittering flames
Heart rending
Should've known better
Will never know better
What code is that beaming
That we could know better
God knows we try
Though our message lost
In that vacuum between where our signal gets tossed
about
Battered and broken
Words bridging the void just
To never be spoken
Its meaning we dance
about
We were taught so much better
Why don't we do better
Than flying alone
Should be cruising the stars together
How loud
How big
Should that signal be
Put a tower on the moon
If it'll call you to me
To visit those glittering specks we admired
Validate and make real that to which we aspired
Lost a wing?
Here take mine
May take a while, but we'll get there in time
Better late than never
Seeing wonders together
Than spinning out, fuel down low, lost to forever
There is a better
Not hard to do better
Sift through the noise
For that message to weather
The chaos, the static, the cosmic melee
So two rockets can find
One another
And play
In the glittering warmth of some star far away.
"I would rather be on a leaky ship that is mine, than aboard a more seaworthy vessel going where I don't wish it to go"—Poet's alter ego
Yes, I know what I’m doing
I’m the master of my fate
The captain of the sinking ship
Seeking harbor in ports whether safe or rocky
With gusto I plow through uncharted frontiers
Why do I do these things to myself? you ask
Perhaps I’m a rebel in search of what's unbeknownst
to me, in search of virgin long lost horizons pristine
Horizons others deem unreachable
I’m bold, brash and yeah sassy, brassy
And irrepressible! You can’t love me you see,
I’m a Lonewolf, and it's quite fine, to be…
Untamed as the wild northern wind
Sweeping the prairies with a gusting woman’s surge
Nature's raw elements try in vain to halt my advances
But I laugh and mock at Mother's efforts
Although I’m tossed and torn
In the grips of Her relentless tempests,
Her storms of fury suppressing, oppressing
Her stern and staid demands to obey, tame and domesticate
You may say I’m the constructor of my own chaos
A free-spirit, challenging myself
My integrity intact, place not your pity on me
Respect is my hallmark and independence,
my calling.
Dark thoughts emerging from a lifeless spirit,
a wandering ship sinking into the remotest depths;
denying itself reality and its sense of comfort...
and was ever there a lighthouse to disperse its darkness?
A captain stirring his erring ship,amid furious waves,
for an imminent and fierce war,
not noticing the making of its destiny...
fighting unnecessary battles of ambiguity,
hoping that luck would bring it safely ashore;
even a small island was hidden from his gaze!
An unwise listener would not take advice from anybody,
he didn't reject it embracing his own vulnerability;
a good decision that didn't imply a cost...
would he ever been discouraged or lost?
For uncountable years, this eager sea-man,
resisted and spoiled many pleasures for victory...
freezing time to avoid another tragedy
with a perception so sharp to defy anyone's will!
And did he deserve the harshest judgment
from others, who were pleased with their fate?
Loneliness was chosen by him
for unequivocal reasons and he craved it
like the bitterest, strongest wine
to make him strong and invincible...
nothing swayed him from his pride
to obtain that impossible goal!
an hour before docking
it was ice cold and freezing
as the vessel like scissors
cut clean through the swell
and the ship’s horn then sounded
and woke those still sleeping
startling the standing
and the seagulls as well
and the door opened outwards
on a windswept and dark deck
as a lighthouse and headland
appeared to our right
and the radar was turning
mixing mist with the morning
as we looked over railings
still wet from the night
and the lifeboats above us
were secured by strong davits
as we walked round the ship’s deck
to see what was there
and the noise of the engines
grew loud and then quiet
while the spindrift and windchill
danced wild with the air
and the lights and the silos
of europoort holland
shone bright in the distance
and focused our view
and we stood there transfixed
with our backs towards england
as dawn beckoned others
to stand and stare too.
I was born to sail.
I can hear whispers of the ocean calling me,
but there are no tides upon this mantlepiece.
I cannot set sail, trapped in this glass cocoon,
collecting dust.. I am no resting place for flies.
Eyes gaze at me in wonderment,
at the patience and precision of my imprisonment,
unaware my masts are raised.... Waiting,
for the seal to break and set me free upon open waters.
In the confinement of my stillness,
I remain poised for this fortress to shatter.
This shield may preserve my charm,
but its glass walls prevent a voyage of purpose,
where I can feel the breeze and
admire my reflection on waves.