Sailing Boats
If I could tame the wind that fills the sail,
And harness the propulsion of the waves,
And imitate the screaming voice of gulls,
And synchronise with rudders and with oars;
Then I would know the secrets of the whale,
And I would speak with sailors in their graves,
And I could calculate the storms and lulls,
And I could chart horizons and the shores.
If I could ride the surf like wood adrift
And skim across the fury of the sea,
And slice the placid surface of the lake,
And wrestle with the rapids as they run;
Then I would feel the beds of rivers shift,
And I would plot their wild trajectory,
And I could taste the salt sprayed in the wake
And sail in sailing boats ‘till I am done.
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