Bland On Bland – Sailors

The theme for this week’s JVG Radio Method poem is “Sailors“.

A good theme this week. JVG and I chatted about catamarans, sailboards, not drowning (waving?) and the wisdom of our good friend Horse from the Large Number 12’s.

The chat lasted way longer than the poem does. Irony it would seem is alive and well.

Ed Bates provided the music backing on Dobro’s. Thatch provided the audio production and sound effects, have a listen to how it went below…

To play this poem directly in your browser – just click the “play” button below:

Sailors

They sit on the pier and gaze out at the sails
An old married couple, old sailors, old tales

Hands twisted and calloused; gnarled, leathered, skins
Ears clipped by cancer; the sun always wins

Too frail for the ocean, too sound for the shore
They feel the winds lash, they watch the gulls soar

Adventures recalled, both cherished and mourned
Stories so wild they survive unadorned

Sudest, Tuvalu, New Guinea, Fiji
Slaves to the weather yet never so free

When storms chased the stern, the unknown ahead
Masts cracked like twigs, stays snapped like thread

Mountainous oceans, whipped by the rains
The wind in their hearts and salt in their veins

Now becalmed by infirmity, left pining the gale
When reality falters, memories prevail

Wizened and brittle, arthritic and bent
The wear of long lives gainfully spent

They gaze at the sea; their country, their home
Bodies decrepit though minds free to roam

The sea that meant life will soon be their graves
Joyous, their ashes will return to the waves

© Copyright 2020 Ian Bland

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Also have a listen to “Everything or Nothing”