Three Poems on Travel [The Galapagos, Haiti and Parting]
Night Sea Gulls over the Bow
[The Galapagos/Dedicated to Cody, lover of animals]
The ship-danced alongside the sea-gulls, so
Proud they were, they could keep up;
Not far away, an Island of sea lions, awaited
(On top of land, and under the sea).
At day break, they followed us with intently.
At night, darkness fell upon our ship, gulls
And all; sailing from island to island
Density prevailed: complete beauties befell.
Love: that, which we give, by looking back:
Above and straight ahead, we weaved
This dark and strange beauty, into our heads!
#1119 1/29/06
Parting
And how does one accept the end
To yield a life with reason,
To go with the flow of things
Even, if only, for a season.
Can one call this: death with grace?
To let his heart, part with fate.
To let go slowly, of everything!
#1140 2/1/2006
Blistering in Haiti
There was no well to fetch water
And so we got it from the creek
With pail, and tin-can, in hand
We caught the water as it ran
and humped that water back, slowly
Five gallons in each pail and can
Drained it for the cement, and shower
We were building a clinic in the
mountains.
And boiled some to drink later on;
In the hot-blistering sun, of Haiti.
Note: In l986, the author flew into Haiti, drove by jeep-truck into the mountains of Haiti with 19-others to build the walls of a clinic for the inhabitants of a village (medical clinic); a first group had come in (before them) and set a cement foundation floor; the doctor had refused to return until the clinic was finished. Thus, he was there two weeks, and had built its basic wall foundation, and a third group followed after he left and finish the job by doing the roof.#1139 1/31/06
See Dennis’ web site: http://dennissiluk.tripod.com
Tag: Poetry