Sailing Poems You've Written

[Sandero]

How simple, yet complex

The sailboat is

Each part essential

Time tested solutions

To the problems

Of how to go

From here to there

With wings of cloth

Flying through the air

Yet swimming too

With fins of metal

Across vast oceans blue

Touching and caressing

Each land

On our planet Earth

Afloat in a vast

Heavenly sea of stars

Men of all times

Looked to the heavens

to find their way

Knowing the signs

Placed skyward

To guide them

Over infinite waves

Disappearing into the horizon

Where all dreams lay

Now electrons too small

For senses to know

Carry the messages

From man made stars

Too insignificant to shine

A matrix of ideas

Dividing the earth

Into precise little squares

As addresses

In a metropolis

For all to know

With the need to go

From here to there

Jef
sv Shiva
Contest 36s

[Sandero]

Flags of many nations
Stood proud marking
The presence of a fresh breeze
Beckoning sailors
To weigh their anchors
Hoist their sails
Sail from safety
In search of their dreams
Each so different
Yet always the same


Jef
sv Shiva
Contest 36s

[Starbuck]

Bravo. Quite good.

[Sandero]

Islands

I’m searching for an island

It's just right for me

A place so special

It’s just got to be

Warm waters lapping

Calm peaceful shores

Quaint little villages

And so very much more

The island has mountain peaks

With clouds about the top

It rains each day an hour

But then must simply stop

The rains fill the ponds,

Rivers and the lakes

You only see sailboats

N’er a power boat wake

This island has meadows

Grasses of delicious green

Flowers abound in multitudes

On the hills and by the streams

Palm lined sandy beaches

and rocky cliffs too

Everything imaginable

All surrounded by endless blue

I’ll set down my anchor

Watch the sun arise

Each day will be different

Hold some new surprise

Locals folk have so much charm

A society that seems fair

A dollars still a dollar

But no one seems to care

I’ll befriend all the sailors

Who come and drop their hook

The good ones with flare

Have also come to look

I’ll forget the winter season

The cold and freezing rains

And not miss the deserts

nor even the great plains

The great cities will be

like far away dreams

Of noise and traffic

In neverending streams

Each island that I’ve sailed to

Meets just part of my need

Searching and exploring

Not missing a good lead

When to weigh anchor?

And when to make way?

I stuggle with this question

Each and every day

The next island beckons

And summons me “sail on”

With promises of new delights

To build a life upon

Not always have I lived

This searching life at sea

Yet there is something about sailing

That’s forever part of me

Jef
sv Shiva
Contest 36s

[PBzeer]

More a view of when I was getting ready to move aboard than actual sailing, but written in the context of sailing.

Lost at Sea

Like waves that lap so gently, upon a distant shore,
Your scent comes drifting to me, across the crowded floor.
I watch you as you weave your way,
Amidst the reefs and shoals.
Your hair a tawny halo,
Like rings around the moon.

I wait the moment, you arrive,
Your smile a welcome light,
And wonder at the hidden depths,
It seems there are in you.

Bits and pieces of you, like flotsam on the beach,
Call to something in me,
Awaken dreams and memories,
I'd thought where now long past.
Whilst hints of all, that you could be,
Leave footprints in the sand.

I know so little, yet so much,
It leaves me wanting more.
Becalmed so far, away from shore,
Am I lost at sea?

[David_Old_Jersey]

Roses are Red
Violets are Blue
I've got a boat
and so have you!

[delmarrey]

Here I set surfing the web.
Logged on to CF before heading off to bed.

Before my eyes a post appeared.
It was a member who has a really long beard.

In the classified he posted just this
A boat for sale that shouldn’t be list.

Low and behold, it seemed like a fine vessel, she was.
But my pockets are empty and just full of fuzz.

So I clicked onto another thread with a sigh in my heart
Just to find someone who couldn’t get his motor to start

I offered up my best guess saying it was just a wire
As I watched, someone said is was false, and that the amps need to be higher

So off to another post about the best anchor that holds
To find there were so many post you had to be bold

I read and read till my eyes almost shut
Looking for the strongest anchor to shove up their butt

It seems I spend so many hour and days on this site
When I could have finished the boat when I had more youth and might.

So it’s off to bed now, thinking of the stupid political post
When I should have been thinking of the finishing the boat

To all a good night, may the wind be at your back
Oh, and this is a joke, so give me some slack!

[Blue Stocking]

Everything about me just says GO,
Priorities are burdens, I can't just throw,
I want so much to be land free,
To be where there is no land to see.

To be an invisible part of the boat
--one more thread in an ethereal coat,
Encompassing, encloaking, a protective sheath,
Protecting my flesh from the cold beneath.

Wind's touch, soft on my face,
In this one spot, in this noplace,
Endless, limitless, source of emotion,
From endless, limitless, faceless ocean.


I wrote this as a memorium to a old departed friend who in his last years was not able to do what he had done so well.

[BlackOak]

Here I float on a sea of sorrow
The sails wont hank
The engine wont crank
TowboatUS wont be here untill tomorrow

[Blue Stocking]

Boat in a moat, is still afloat
Until the bridge, its "west about"
Turn about, no getting out.

[shorebird]

There was a sailor from Nantucket,
kept his boat afloat with a bucket,
he bailed and bailed
and never sailed,
so finally one day he said:
"oh forget about it."

[The Garbone]

There once was a girl from Nantucket

Who did he her business in a bucket.

Once she filled her pail with one the size of a whale,

Carried it up to the rail so she could chuck it.

[AnsleyS]

I said to a bug in the sink
are you taking a swim or a drink?
I, said the bug, am a sea going tug
am I heading for land, do you think?
That's silly, said I, that's no sea it's a sink.
A sink it may be, sir, but I'd sooner, I think,
be it sea in the sink than sink in the sea Sir, said he.

John Ciardi

[delmarrey]

Here I set to write another poem
From the walls of this ole shanty
And it’s all for the Cruisers Forum
Out sailing, is where I should be

Outside the wind is cold and wet
Stuck in another winter of the Pacific NW
It’s a good thing I’m not in debt
For a sailor should know what’s best

Working on the boat is a pleasure
But the weather keeps these old bones sore
Some sun and dry air I could use for sure
Working on this boat, soon to be no more

Just ordered a fuel tank to add to the tonnage
It’s aluminum, but some don’t agree
But the hull has been prep and staged
And the damn thing sure isn’t free

The new water maker is on order
And a water tank installed too
A couple weeks and it’ll be at the border
So the shower can be running just for you

Everything else is done on the boat
Except for a hard dodger windshield
It’s not my place to gloat
But I wish the boat were still in the field

Tied to a slip
There are so many rules
If this were a ship
They could be fooled

So off out in the harbor
A generator to run
I’ll grind the deck and mortar
This’ll be how it’s done

A stick of wood here
a layer of glass there
I hope it’s like a mirror
After it dries in the air


Then comes a canvas dodger to be attached at the top
Made of sumbrella and the color of blue
All the way aft is where it’ll stop
It’s made to cover me and you

This is the end for this day
I have other things to do
Let’s hope and pray
That you do too

[S/V Blondie-Dog]

Can you sail, in a gale?
And did you wail while undersail?

I did indeed sail in a gale.
And I later even peed off the rail.

Have you ever tied a knot?
Or was it a mistake and all for naught?

Of course I've tied a knot without so much as even a thought.
And it’s still there ‘cause I already done forgot.

Can you splice a line?
And did you drink up all that wine?

Sure I can splice a line and without even so much as a little whine.
And gulp, that was some mighty fine red wine.

Can you set anchor without too much rancor?
Or was that you hollering late one night while spewing much anger?

Yes I can set an anchor without any rancor.
But it was my own noisy halyard that set off all my banter.

Might you have a putty-cat to snuggle along with late at night?
Or is it jest’ you in that v-berth without any delight?

Why yes I now have a pussy-cat to snuggle with all night.
And together we take turns, turning off the lights, for a little delight!

And did you read any books while aboard your boat?
Or do you piddle your time away takin’ one too many tokes?

Heck no did I take any tokes.
But I did read Dr. Seuss’s classics I’ll have you note!

(With my utmost sincere apologies to Dr. Seuss!)