sailing adventure 12/04/21

Wobbly deck
a breeze in my neck

I had my suspicions that day
but went out anyway
I mean
you know I'm not the kind to stay in
when there's a little bit of wind

Ring up the boats! Ring up the boats!

Summer '21,
the winds changed course
a gust of 31 upon our lake

Wind in the air
wind in my hair
my nametag soaked, my whistle blown

A distant shout,
"Azra, you're off course,
off course!"

"I know that, Thomas!
but the jibe gives no forewarning,"
whacks me in the boom
head, wobbled out of place

Far off, little boy Joe
in his boat,
has never sailed before
his eyes a dangerous mix of red and water that points to teeming trauma remembered
he might shiver, his parents

aren't here
my forgotten boat, I've jumped in
holding on to his bow from down under

"I got you, I got you,"

my body submerged and his boat in shambles, I grasp Joe's hand

As soon as we make contact he looks at me with such fear
a gaze that does not blink, and the clutch of his hand, glued to mine

as if I was his life
line

Such little tears, streaming down
his breath so shallow and lips, purple

Oh no, oh no

I cannot capture this adventure on paper
the heavy mixtures harkening aloft,
and the rain, screaming her songs of lunacy,
as if being in the water or standing on your boat "does not a difference, you insignificant child"

I could barely open my eyes to look at him
my body, so heavy
from the tickle of the boom
and just about everything else

But the child,
this little person I knew not,
guided me with such empowering force
as of my life his gaze did descry

The winds reach 34, I say, "You must let go
of your mainmast!

Follow the wind, see? There's the shore!"

He said, "Alack!" He said, "Avast!"

He couldn't, he could NOT and I SAW
I understood, his whole life
unraveled my hand from this tiny clutch

Went under, pushed his boat to shore
somehow, I know not how,
managed to push his boat to lore

Even in safety,
still he looked at me with that intensity

The story is done
we see each other around camp, here and there

Stop for a fraction, then go our ways
but you can't tell we do, so it's not for sure
out of his gaze I begin smiling
knowing, he does too

And at nights I can't help but sneak back
into the blue