CELESTIAL NAVIGATION
Sun-worn sails,
Shore's sand, pink,
Warm azure sea.
Hold tight the tiller
Westering from Abaco
North toward heaven:
West Virginia, snowbound,
Her rivers silent,
Laurel, iced green.
Snowshoe to woodshed,
Clutching lifeline and compass.
Falling, a blizzard of white stars.
from No Name Harbor, Poetry of Barbary Chaapel
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Real-life descriptions of sailing in the Caribbean in Journey of the Snow Goose from which I draw the poem of winter in West Virginia amidst thoughts of warm weather:
"...The pink of sunrise at sea is euphoria. Approaching Gun Cay Bill was playing sailor standing high in his handmade rat lines when he shouted down: Quick! Come about! Coral heads! I looked at the depth sounder...63 feet of the clearest water we've ever seen under us."
"...we all leave Honeymoon for Cat Cay at 10:30 AM. The wind is stiff at 18 knots out of the southeast. It is a crisp, bright day. The high rocky ledge to our north is quite defined and on the south side of this cut that takes us from the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic to the Bahamas Bank is very shallow water. The water in the cut sloshes, pocks with four foot waves and strong current. Now we motor south down the east edge of Cat Cay to a private harbor. Bill goes ashore to clear us through customs, taking Honoree cat's medical papers as well as our own I.D."
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