Poem of the Week ~ Traveller

Kids, there are a lot of really great poems out there on any given day, but when I read this one, posted in the Pantry on Father's Day, I swooped down on it as happily as an eagle on an especially tasty mussel. Traveller, by Rosemary Nissen-Wade, who writes at the aptly named The Passionate Crone, was written some years ago  to her step-dad, as he lay dying. 

I commented, on her site, that if I were doing I Wish I'd Written This, I would select her poem. And then went: wait a minute! I do Poem of the Week! So here it is, for your delectation.

TRAVELLER

My stepfather showed me oceans.

Now these midnight moments

call and flesh the ketch

from childhood,

dusted by moonlight,

perfectly still

at the end of the pier.

That New Year’s Eve we danced

in circles on the sand.

Sand and sea joined flat.

We might have walked straight out

with no dividing breath.

‘St. Elmo‘s Fire,’ he said

pointing, as flame without wind

blew in the bare poles

leaving them clean.

The moon’s long wake

pierced the horizon.

My stepfather gave me boats.

Tonight he’s dying,

I’m far from home.

Twin masts faintly gilded

rise perfectly still

through all my seas, all ships

poised ever since,

a track of light

widening across the water.

Gone by morning.

First published in Universe Cat (Melbourne, Pariah Press, 1985)

Also in Secret Leopard (Paris, Alyscamps Press, 2005)

Rosemary, I love that he gave you oceans and boats. And that you had "two dear fathers". Lucky girl! Thank you for your beautiful poem, and for your reliable and unflagging contribution to Poets United. I adore your purple  dress! And your irrepressible spirit!