Clear Water Skier

The following is a poem I wrote in the 1980s. A few people have read it but I have never published it. Recently I thought, "For what am I waiting?" It's time to publish, publish, self publish. I could die with all these poems sitting around in file folders. Hopefully, I won't.

One moment stern and fierce, the next, your face is vibrant

and sparkling like the water.

Neptune, King of the Lake

(and Sea)

Poseidon and Triton are your other names.

You ride the waves; the spray and your body make one long arc.

Confident you are; you rule.

Tethered to the boat, you push the limit.

Slinging yourself, exuberant and free with speed, you catapult

into an unfulfilled orbit.

Your trajectory dependent upon the rope, without it

there would be no ride. A polypropylene umbilical cord.

You are Neptune - half man, the chest bare, glistening with drops.

Legs of wet suit; fishy scales that make you a creature of the sea.

You stand at the end of your boat, your skin glowing with warmth,

the sun behind you is your crown.

We kneel before you.

Your grace captures us.

With quickened hearts we watch you stretch

connected to your cord with fingertips. The wind sings as you fly.

Watching, we are alive - we are no longer awkward, earthbound, weak.

We love you, Neptune. King of the Lake, and Sea.

-SLG