Robert M. Simmons  

New Release

         Sailing

I’d rather be sailing

out on the bay

being borne by a breeze

on a warm summer day,

than stuck behind a desk

awash in a sea

of unopened mail

waiting for me.

I’d rather be roaming

far from the land

with a wind at my back

and a rope in my hand,

than fighting heavy traffic

on some city street

enveloped in gases

brewed by the summer heat.

I’d rather be navigating

a faraway shore

with a wide open mind

and a world to explore,

than shuffling around

some shopping mall

with crowds that are large

and thoughts that are small.

I’d rather be cruising

across the sound

far from the mainland

island bound,

than struggling to master

some electronic device

accompanied by a manual

that’s been translated twice.

I’d rather be shivering

in a wintry blast

with sleet coming down

and ice on my mast,

than sitting at home

on a comfortable chair

completing my taxes

in utter despair.

I’d rather be reefing

through a savage squall

in danger of swamping

with each rise and fall,

than reading People Magazine

in a melancholy room

waiting for some test results

to certify my doom.

I’d rather be rolling

in a wicked gale

with walls of waves above my bow

and winds shredding my sail,

than hanging on in a hospital bed

sustained by tubes and wire

with little left for me to do

but silently expire.

    © 2008 by Robert M. Simmons

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Subjects: poems about sailing, mail, traffic, shopping malls, instruction manuals, taxes, medical tests, life support,  poetry, poems

Sailing