Travelers Welcome

Travelers Welcome

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

HOME FROM SEA

by Jeffrey Park

Had he been a mariner my father
would have thought only in nautical
terms –leagues, fathoms, dead slow,

lines and shrouds and knots that are
speed and knots that are tied – would
have sailed the South Sea in search

of breadfruit and a nut-brown bride.
He’d have had wood-grain skin
and a stare that scoured infinity.

Had he been a sailor, my father would
have slept in a berth instead of a bed,
would have called the ship’s hold

his home. But he never sailed
on a ship at all. He never went to sea
or felt a deck roll under his feet.

A house far from shore was his frigate
and the barnacles on the basement walls
spent their lives dry and confused.
 

1 comment:

  1. Somehow, this seems very suited to the first day of the year. It probably isn't, but I like it so I will create a reason to. Some great lines, a lot of richness.

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