Wednesday, December 11, 2013

GIFT


A day so happy.
Fog lifted early, I worked in the garden.
Hummingbirds were stopping over honeysuckle flowers.
There was no thing on earth I wanted to possess.
I knew no one worth my envying him.
Whatever evil I had suffered, I forgot.
To think that once I was the same man did not embarrass me.
In my body I felt no pain.
When straightening up, I saw the blue sea and sails.

Czeslaw Milosz 

3 comments:

Ben said...

Nice poem. I assume, it expresses your present feelings, so you must be fine.
Nice ship what type is it?

Alden Smith said...

Not sure about the poem - I like best the last line - "When straightening up I saw the blue sea and sails."

Alden Smith said...

This is a beautiful cruising yacht designed in the 1930s by the American yacht designer John Atkin. This yacht and many many others are examples of a golden era of yacht design - sadly (in my opinion ) much of modern yacht design is unattractive or down right ugly.

This yacht 'Ariel' is a fine example of this design of which many have been built.

If you look at my posting titled "Sailing" (Novemeber 28th 2013) you will see a photograph of 'Vixen' which is the original yacht built to this design.

This yacht 'Vixen' was designed specifically for a circumnavigation which she has completed - and I think since then completed another - if not she has been cruised extensively and has visited Whangarei NZ where I took photographs of her a few years ago.

If you look at my posting "Shipshape" (November 18th 2013) you will see a photograph of yet another sistership to this design. She was built by my cousin Allan Smith her in Whangarei at Smiths Boatyard in the 1980s. She is beautifully built of heart Kauri timber and a fine example as you can see from the photograph with her teak decks and fine woodwork. I would love to own a yacht such as this - the type is very sea kindly and the deep forefoot and long keel enable the yacht to self steer for long periods of time.