for Crystal
He who will not answer to the rudder
will answer to the rock.
-Cornish proverb
I am not completely sure
if you are my rudder
or my rock
Indeed
until I wrote these words
I had not made the connection
between this
a favorite inscription
(on the Forum building in Harrisburg)
and your (thankfully)
lasting admiralty over my soul
A sailor might disagree
with my conclusions
But I think you are
sometimes one
sometimes a little of both
and sometimes neither as fits the weather
I accept your steerage—
what little is possible with a nearly scuppered old craft like me
and I do fear the rock in you
that it might crush me
or keep me lashed tight to pier
and so be ravaged by some pending gale
or worse: that I might not keep its steady anchor
Others
have gone on to new commissions
but I’m hoping you’ll
stay on for the whole voyage (even though I am a
1955 wooden-hulled inboard –
maintenance required)
Between us we know
both rudder and rock
sufficient to weather
each looming storm
every sun-drenched span
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