Sailing Poem by Paul Clement Czaja

I love the ocean –
the living ocean always in motion –
always changing-
primeval yet ever new—
at times so gentle –
other times fierce and dangerous –
so powerful –
so immense –
so sacred in its ancientness –
mother of earthly life –
its distant beckoning horizon –
its ceaseless waves and tides –
its familiar salty taste –
its many colors and moods.
I love sailing in my wooden boat
on top of it –
through it –
held up by it –
surrounded –
embraced by the entire vast ocean –
sailing with the wind –
unafraid –
at home on the sea –
and when at anchor
diving from the deck
deep into the cold sea –
underwater
with my eyes open
seeing mystery everywhere –
deepening darkness –
then thrusting my body upwards
like a fish –
up,
up breaking the surface
with my head and pointed hands,
wet arms and shoulders up into the air
and sunlight -
gasping for the sweet air –
dashing the water with a shake
from my gray beard –
swimming for my island of a boat –
climbing abroad once more
to become a man –
a seaman –
pulling up the hook from the bottom –
setting my boat free –
filling the sail once more with the wind –
leaping ahead,
my strong hand on the tiller –
the ocean water
rushing along the hull
making it hum like a violin –
my whole mind/heart/soul
sings out in joy –
sailing!