Poem January 3, 1959 Issue

IF NOW I SPEAK OF SHIPS

Jeannette Hulst Johansson

If now I speak of ships, I will not use
The banal, emptied phrase. Instead I choose
To hear again, in thought, ship sounds I knew:
The roar and shudder as the whirling screw
Breaks water, and the winches' motored groan,
The taut slant cable's low, held, wind-called tone;
To feel the hard, steep lift of deck, and see
The swift, sheared water racing constantly.
For I would speak what wide sea days have taught
So ships, not words, may reach the hearer's thought.

And if I speak of Truth, let me not be
Like the unfaithful servant, who, when he
Repaid his lord, with one lone coin was found,
Still dank from its entombment in the ground.
May I first use the Word, make it my own,
Love, learn, and live it hourly till I've grown
By comfort, comforted; till I can see
Some glimpse of man as Mind's immediacy.
Then Truth, not explanation on my part,
Will touch with living fire the seeking heart.

Jeannette Hulst Johansson

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