Sailing in the Late Afternoon

[jonathan_wolfe]

The white canvas ripples in the fine crisp air. a warm breeze

making the mood dozy, the clouds gracing the sun

in a warm welcome

 

let the dance begin.

get up and dive into the air, whirl around

up towards the sun and around the ceruclean sky

 

diving down down near the great sea,

racing, winding through the trees towards the

afternoon sun.

 

sweat on the brow, the glint off the the prow,

brilliance of the glorious machines, sinewing the sky

 

dip down low into the countryside, behind

mountain's shadow, cool breeze, winding path

 

strange land.

 

tension leads to curiousity leads to interest.

 

Climbing back up into the air

to grace the sunny skys agains

 

Once more it is time to sleep and let the white wings of the

wind take us where they might go

 

we see the albatross sail into the deep requious sky.

and we smile.

 

and we have peace.

[Gyrfalcon]

slipping free of gravity's grasp

throwing one's self at the ground and missing

taking wing and soaring past

the clouds and higher

 

tasting the rain before it has fallen

bursting from the empyrean white

spinning and dancing on a floor insubstantial

before turning and plunging back

 

falling, soaring, mind blurring intensity

letting the wind tease us away from the ground

to flash over land and water to fast

and breath deep of a freedom so blue.

[Falcon2001]

Excellent poem, Jonathan. As I was reading I was trying to see what sort of bird it was - I had the image of a seagull originally. The Albatross is a much better symbol of nautical freedom though, glad you used it

 

The vocabulary on this is excellent, as well. A lot of these words I'm hard-pressed to use when asked, nevertheless in a poem.