Casting Off

Had lunch with a friend of mine who, with his wife Patty, has spent most summer weekends of his adult life sailing Lake Superior. "Casting Off" was written for them ...

Casting off, they’d loosed the lines

And turned to face the breeze

Twenty seven years they’ve sailed the lake

Companions, mates at ease

And tacked across expanse of blue

At knots at times deemed high

To push themselves beyond the known

At times, the wind a sigh

Explored the shores, the coves and tors

Perched high upon the hills

Of islands set upon the waves

The view from which gives thrills

To look out on the placid seas

And know from where they’ve been

In truth it matters not one whit

Should becalmed remain the wind

The sailing has enthralled them since

They first became as one

To stand upon their deck and peer

At rise or setting sun

And times the storms have roiled

Their craft o’er waves blown rough and high

And made them better sailors

As on life’s seas they ply

Their long experience, intimate

Of themselves and of their mate

See through the deepening troughs of life

And so the seas placate

Someday, becalmed, they’ll come to peace

With one last sail to make

And off into the glorious eve

Together they’ll partake.