Of Poetry and Pirates

Painting by Eugen Kohlhauer

I've been writing poetry for years, it's actually my favorite form of creative writing. It was Anne of Green Gables that really awoke that love of poetry in me, but when I discovered e.e. cummings as a teenager, that changed everything. I rarely write traditional rhyming poems anymore, I prefer the freedom of expression in more free verse works. Sometimes I feel like poetry is not as appreciated as it used to be, that especially in the younger generations it's become too old-fashioned seeming, too fancy. It's a sad thing, like we're losing a part of our soul. Poetry is one of the oldest forms of writing and, in my opinion, the one that will last the longest. 

This particular poem came from a phrase that I couldn't get out of my mind, based on the old saying, "ships that pass in the night". The words that kept rolling around in my head were "passing ships," the meaning of that in a relationship, and it developed into a metaphor for love. 

                                      

                                                                   Love Pirate

                                          you blew into my life

                                                        with the winds of freedom at your back

                                                        and you have plundered my soul

                                                        are you satisfied (my captain)

                                                        now that your bounty lies before you

                                                       and I have waved my flag of white?

                                                       I knew that a man like you could not be held

                                                      you are as shifting as the sands

                                                                      drifting with the tide

                                                     and we are passing ships

                                                     that meet for moments

                                                     but still

                                                                I took that leap

                                                     into this great expanse

                                                    so sail away (my love)

                                                   with my heart in your chest

                                                   I know that like a flashing blade

                                                   I have left a mark as well

                                                              and that will have to be enough