Sailing Scenarios

Just when you think
you've found Elysium
on Narragansett Bay:
wind gently pushing
from behind,
sails wing and wing,
water schlupping off the bow
fluffing up rosettes of spume,

suddenly the wind strengthens,
the gunwales go under,
and you rush below
to secure the gear
while the giddy fruit,
tossed in its net sling,
slams against fiberglass
and you grab at particles
and hold on, hold on.

Or just as the spinnaker
fills, and you're coasting
along like a big bird
on the edge of the wind,
suddenly the wings
drop down on the deck
in a silken heap,
limp and breathless.

Then in come the biting flies,
and you start the engine
and head for home
in a smear of fumes
and oily rainbows,
swatting the guileless flies
all the way to Allen's Harbor.

--- Betsy Lincoln