Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, MY PILOTS, by EDWARD F. MORRILL


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

MY PILOTS, by                    
First Line: The giant vane upon the tallest pine
Last Line: Have I an ache within I cannot still?
Subject(s): Kennebec (river), Maine; Nature


The giant vane upon the tallest pine
Has given us no sidelong look today;
It steers wrought-tipped head into the south
To see the black ducks flocking from the bay.
And now the night. The fog comes slipping in,
And quick the din
Of raucous duck is stilled . . . from the river mouth
There comes the pungent taste of salt sea spray.

O Kennebec -- why is your spell on me?
Why, when this fog is flattening from Fall Sky,
Have I an ache within I cannot still?
What thrust for me is in the white gull's cry?
I leap into light skiff and push from shore
With sturdy oar.
I think those long dead skippers on the hill
Sit sternly in my bow as swift I ply.

("Ho! The boy's a poet!
Sailing the tide of men
That fired them down
To Boston Town --
And brought them back again!
We dared the seas where the Portland
Went down to Davey Jones --
And you -- our brave descendant --
Make rhythm of our bones.)

Why, when these coves with homing waters fill,
Have I an ache within I cannot still?





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