As a sloop with a sweep of elegant wing on her delicate spine
And a keel of steel that holds in the sea as she leans,
Leaning and creaking, my wonderful beauty, as you ride, you ride,
You tack on the curves with parabolic speed and a hint of goodbye,
Like a thoroughbred sloop, my renovated spirit, my kiss.
As my touch suggests that you pull in the air, the AB crew on board,
My finger that praises your wheel and opens your voices of sea song,
Trimming your fore-sails, your brown wings of joy, your responsiveness,
You react, as if with brain, your essence of worthiness with sprit-like nose,
And your nautical clocks of excitement stir as we head to waters unexplored.
But how alien you are from the coal pits of your birth and the smoke
Where you turned on the rivers of Yorkshire at night
And groaned with the cargo in your darkest rest,
But now with your eyes that enter the future of waters you forget;
You are all instinct with your brown glow and your sail-like hair.
And now when we halt it is not as the boat of steel that I leave
Or the leathery captain who steps from his tub with a sneer of delight,
And not as an ignorant beast do you bob and watch me depart,
But with exquisite creaking you smile, with satisfaction of love,
And I stroke you again as you tick in the silence and settle in sleep.