Boat of Fools

(A salty poem. Copyright 2022 All rights reserved.)
See definitions of sailing terms below the poem.

The genoa full
on a close-hauled tack
The main was following suit

Our bow rose high
as we climbed a swell
Then fell and we buried the snoot

We should’a reefed down
the main that day
And switched out the forward sail

But we stayed fully rigged
as the sky turned dark
And the winds whipped up to a gale

We pitched and rolled
and fought the storm
But were hit broadside by a wave

It knocked us down
the mast slapped the sea
And each man thought he’d found his grave

With a thousand black fathoms
under our hull
We cut loose the waterlogged main

Our boat rolled back up
and we all crawled below
With only ourselves to blame

I heard my leg snap
as we tossed about
In the dark, another man yelled

The boat beat us up
but she stayed afloat
While the witch sang her songs from hell

The gods took pity
on us thick-brained youth
By dawn, the storm blew away

Though bloody and broken
we were alive
And each heathen had learned how to pray

When we limped back to shore
each one of us swore
To listen when nature cries

We’d trim right the sails,
stay out of the gales
And keep our eyes set on the skies

[photo by Sebastian Bill]

Sailing terms:

Genoa: a large forward sail that is sometimes so big it wraps part way around the mainsail
Close-hauled: when a sailboat is sailing as close as it can to the oncoming wind
Main, or Mainsail: The largest sail attached to the mast
Bow: The front end of the boat
Snoot: Not a real sailing term, just a word I made up for the bow
Reefing a sail: when you reduce the size of a sail