‘The Voice of Reason’ <br />for many years adrift. <br /> <br />Her varnished gunwales and tiller board <br />long ago bleached out. <br /> <br />Across the transom plank, <br />artfully scripted <br />her name. <br /> <br />Now a <br />fading reminder <br />before the eclipse. <br /> <br />Her sail starched <br />and burnished red, <br />where a white dove <br />once embossed, <br />had spread <br />its wings in flight. <br /> <br />Now torn and frayed <br />draping down the masthead <br />like a funeral shroud. <br /> <br />Life supporting <br />flotation vests <br />hopelessly <br />disemboweled. <br /> <br />Empty oarlocks <br />fused in place. <br /> <br />Her carefully knotted <br />rigging rope <br /> and <br />lanyard cords, <br />attenuated by the drought. <br /> <br />Once lustrous polished brass <br />her fittings <br />weary <br />from electrolysis. <br /> <br />Her glimmering white <br />shiplap hull, <br />so craft-fully <br />seamed <br />and caulked, <br />now chalky gray <br />and separating. <br /> <br />Voice of Reason <br />do you remember when <br />exacting such attention, <br />you sailed across <br />our <br />harbors and bays, <br />propelled by <br />whisper breezes <br />in the morning light <br />of our daily faith <br />in you. <br /> <br />Congruent pride <br />and possibility. <br /> <br />Why, was it that <br />we 'then' would listen <br />to the wisdom of the ages, <br />that your presence <br />always brought? <br /> <br />Was there only so much reason <br />to be spread about? <br /> <br />Did we use it up, <br />allowing hubristic avarice <br />dominion over us? <br /> <br />Have you been <br />to long adrift, <br />soon to <br />go awash? <br /> <br />Fathom <br />by <br />fathom <br />banished, <br />beneath <br />a saddened <br />sea...<br /><br />Stephen S. Yeandle<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/skiff/
