a wanderer's song

A wind's in the heart of me, a fire's in my heels,
I am tired of brick and stone and rumbling wagon-wheels;
I hunger for the sea's edge, the limit of the land,
Where the wild old Atlantic is shouting on the sand.

Oh I'll be going, leaving the noises of the street,
To where a lifting foresail-foot is yanking at the sheet;
To a windy, tossing anchorage where yawls and ketches ride,
Oh I'l be going, going, until I meet the tide.

And first I'll hear the sea-wind, the mewing of the gulls,
The clucking, sucking of the sea about the rusty hulls,
The songs at the capstan at the hooker warping out,
And then the heart of me'll know I'm there or thereabout.

Oh I am sick of brick and stone, the heart of me is sick,
For windy green, unquiet sea, the realm of Moby Dick;
And I'll be going, going, from the roaring of the wheels,
For a wind's in the heart of me, a fire's in my heels.

John Masefield (1878 - 1967)

an unexpected confluence of island creatures

When two of my most favorite sights to see come coincidentally juxtaposed, just at the moment I'm there to catch them, I take it as a small but gracious gift from God.

For my money, there are few sights more graceful than a gaff-rigged schooner under full sail nor more calming than the confident composure of a pelican.

I was on my way from where I'd just been and heading toward somewhere else when these few moments came together.

A kid with a camera looking for photo-ops, the Adirondack II on a starboard tack and the brown pelican between them just watching it all go down.

An unexpected confluence of island creatures.
Turn a blind eye and you miss the moment. Miss the moment and you miss the memory.

Our lives are made of moments, strung together end to end for as long as we care to keep breathing. At the end of the day, what else do we have but memories of how great it was
to be here.

. . .and speaking of memories, here's one from "The Golden Trashery of Ogden Nashery". . .

"A curious bird is the pelican.
His bill can hold more than his belly can.
He can hold in his beak enough food for a week,
but I'm damned if I know how the hell he can."