His love is where we begin
His flesh where we enter in
His death the payment for sin
Rising from death the underpin
Our faith must be put in play
Trust in Him the only way
To save us from judgment day
His Spirit in us to sway
Hope's anchor holding souls fast
His reward in sight at last
Raising faith as the mainmast
Distress and doubts are sailed past
Our love is where we begin
Produced by the Spirit within
Beginning His process again
His plan has always been-
Faith, Hope, and Love
Categories:
mainmast, bible, faith, forgiveness, god,
Form: Rhyme
My concern, generating confusion
For you, I must re-write our genetics
But fate is never kind to illusion
Although our efforts did grow frenetic
Quixotic, tilt the family windmill
Not all questions yield to simple reason
A snapped mainmast, voyage at a standstill
Yet defeat, could I admit this treason?
Your life trajectory, its own mission
Once certain it must rely on our plans
A white flag is the only conclusion
Your destiny always out of our hands
Now there is one thing I know for certain
I am not the man behind the curtain
4/12/16
Categories:
mainmast, daughter, life, parents, recovery
Form: Sonnet
It races along not a care in de world,
Like and old schooner, mainsail's unfurled,
Up top all is calm, little too calm perhaps,
Then it starts to unravel and fears a collapse,
Fresh fear up above drives it on faster below,
Now it's really going, faster than a neutrino,
Palms are now sweating,
As the heart beats so fast,
Head has a death grip now,
Onto the mainmast,
Panic and terror now so overwhelm,
Heart's out of control,
Heads abandoned the helm,
I've been thru this before, time and again,
Still doesn't matter I think I'm dyin all over again,
Eventually waves of panic reduce to an ebb,
Hearts back in calm waters, control of helm with the head.
Categories:
mainmast, pain,
Form: Free verse
I am a broken-winged dove
Held in a soft, black bag
Tied round with a velvet noose.
Reasoning with my sensibilities
He seeks to assure me
All will be well
If I simply stop struggling
And allow him to feed me
Soft, warm food
From his caring hand.
I am a rudderless vessel
Adrift on a river
Filled with sharpened rocks of worry
Holding the anchor,
He fastens it calmly
‘Round the mainmast
Of my shredded sail
And speaks quietly
Of landlocked shipyards
And safe harbors.
I am a voiceless singer
Reading silent music
Written with pens of invisible ink.
Softly approaching
He closes the door
On my singing heart
And tears the score
Of unheard symphonies:
The music is gone;
It exists no more.
Categories:
mainmast, allegory
Form: Free verse
WHALING IN 1844
All hands came aboard
In March we left Deptford
Bound for Greenland’s whales and
Rather it was Wales’s green land.
The lookout on the mainmast tied
Saw her white spout and cried
“Thar she blows, mates”
And the shellbacks straight
Manned the harpoon boats
Pulling tight their oilskin coats
Even in the teeth of the squall
Captain Thomas called to overhaul
Boats were lowered and men aboard
Thinking of their whale-reward
Harpoon struck and the line paid out
She leapt with pain and turned about
The blue tail went skyward
Here was their whale reward
Smash into the boat and five
Floating men no longer alive
Losing the men was adverse
But losing the whale was a curse
The school would disperse
Affecting each man’s purse
The Baffin ice was thicker now
Under the yards, under the prow
So we set sail for England half-full
And ran south our icy hull
Home now and a short-time lull
We’ll soon be back for another cull.
Categories:
mainmast, men, men,
Form: Couplet
I starts me life as pirate,
A grommet before age twelve,
Not an ordinary bandit,
High sea adventures me delve.
With a Letter of Marque in me han’
And the Commodore for me pa!
I spends dogwatch near the helmsman,
Nerey missin’ me bonny ma.
Old salts tell their gory tales,
Aye, dogs hanging from the gallows.
Punishments for a man who fails
Floggings or keelhaul; blood bath follows.
Scrimshaw hangin’ ‘round me neck.
A privateer by trade,
Flaunting booty on the deck
We’s the scallywags brigade.
Pirateering is me heartthrob.
I dreams schemes in the crows nest.
‘bout takin’ swag from an unfortunate swab.
I sits watchin’ pa from the crest.
Long nines aimed and ready,
Jolly Roger on the mainmast,
Headway fast and steady,
The enemy’s fate forecast.
One for all and all for one!
Drinkin’ grog an’ eatin’ grub.
Werkin’ on the “Morning Sun”
Me father at the hub.
Davy Jone’s locker, me final plight!
Death drifting in me beloved sea –
Straightway from the dark of night
The pirate’s life for me!
© July 15, 2010
Dane Smith-Johnsen
Categories:
mainmast, adventure, fantasy, on work
Form: Quatrain