A ship steams towards the shore
No port but a sandy beach
with tall palm trees stretching
like tired hippies
A crash of the falling anchor
the loud clanking of a chain
throws up the screaming birds
like a poor magicians card trick
The blanket like sail
flaps in the wind
an extra large hanky
waved by a sorry hand
The smoke from the funnel stops
the tired engine pants
like it has had too much exercise
the birds settle to rest again
as the ship slows to a stop
First landing is really a nice and sweet poem my dear son. Your effort in this poem is very much expressive. May God bless you.
I like this poem very much! It's a slice of a much larger story - that of an odyssey, the sea voyage of discoveries of both the world without and the world within. Of course, this is just a slice of that mega-subject and it is self-contained. It has an admirable objectivity, describing the arrival and docking of the ship in technical terms that are vivid and complete. You thus permit the reader like myself who is caught up in the romance of the sea and the symbolism of the sea voyage to project onto your realistic scene. BTW I have NEVER taken a sea voyage, but I love the metaphor itself. Walt Whitman created a stunning version in PASSAGE TO INDIA which Ralph Vaughan Williams set to music in his SEA SYMPHONY. His music is stunning, too!
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
More , more ! What happens next?