Setting Out With Capt. Po Poem by Stephen S. Yeandle

I have sailed a long, long way
from the native land,
I bid goodbye,
so many years ago.

When;
With my eyes set on the horizon
And my feet upon the deck
My hand on the teller
And the canvas it was stretched
My bow was pointed southward
As my dreams showed the way
No courage was needed on such a fine day

The dawn rose swiftly
tolling like a bell
And the light grew wider like
the morning peddles
of a flower

I felt much a part
of a pantheistic rhyme,
a young man voyaging out
knowing it was time.

A few miles off
the sea turned
darker green,
then it turned to blue
as I left the Continental shelf

With an apprentice curiosity,
I questioned
how far I’d travel
as the main sail billowed
and I picked up modest speed

The furrows began to widen
and slopes gently rose
taking me higher
than lower I would go.

Re-stitched the parted seams behind me,
my wake would disappear
Like it had for those before
and all those
sure to follow.

There I was a-voyaging deep in open sea
short of any noise or voice,
silence came as comfort,
a sweet embrace for me

I had watched the blood red morning
turn to yellow gold
then came a bursting
mirrored white
exploding on the sea
high in middle day.
And
the glare would not settle
until three bells could sound.

When the sun reached out
a quarter west
the artist brush gave way
returning to a kinder color
as had begun the day.

Soon the dusk would give reprieve
then my eyes could rest.

But first the port to find,
it was clearly on the chart

Then I saw the
seabirds fishing
not so far away
And
presently the breakers sound
came to call on me
And
soon I’d lay my anchor
along a lonesome Cay.

Slowly set the sun
and slowly
drew the night

But there would be no depth in darkness,
on this bold
lunar night

I could hear the palm fronds
whisper as if in evening prayer
and I listened to the lapping
of the sea on nearby shore
And
the saline waters quivered
where the moon had thrust its stage

In earnest voice I say to you
nothing ever seen ashore
one by one
I ’d give it all
refitted to begin again
despite the losses and the fears
that came and went through the years,
this my journey I would not change
for fear of losing,
the myriad
wisdom
of it all.