Page 43 - Contrast1992Fall
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stature. timbers did creak, but it
As he neared the gap in the was the first time this had happened.
Puzzled, he tried to fathom
surf-thrashed reefs, an answer from her;
hefelt nervous, letting his in response, she crashed a
boom swing out too far. wave across his stern, and
He composed himself, escalated the freshening gale
and with bow held high, into a raging storm, throwing the
and flags flapping, shocked schooner up swells
he sailed toward her entrance. and down into troughs.
She saw this young, His torment could not last
wet-behind-the-ears much longer, and with a
schooner approach, and seeing a deafening crack, his
determined look in his porthole, anchor line broke,
decided to let him enter. breaking the last tie to his
A currrent caressed his keel beloved refuge of years.
and guided his rudder into the He was swept out to sea,
middle of her opening. adrift and alone,
Flushed with excitement, he buffeted by wind and wave alike,
sailed without flaw into until his holds were flooded,
her gentle bay. and his sails torn;
he closed his portholes
As time passed, he ventured for the last volley of elements.
into the sea less and less,
preferring her assured calm He awoke the next day
and warmth, to the to cloudy, though calmer skies;
unpredictableness of the ocean. lost and battered;
He never grew tired of realization broke, and large tears
hearing her waves lap against flowed down his mast,
his side, nor feel his hull across his deck,
graze against her sandy shoals. and over his gunwales.
Contented and happy was the H is sails and hull could be
little ship, in his new-found harbor. . mended in time,
it was his heart that could
Then, as evening never be repaired.
approached many tides later,
the gentle bay Peter White
produced a squall,
nothing big, although his
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