by Bakul Banerjee
For distant shores and precious ports,
strong ship-hands fill my ship’s hull
with intangible loads of satisfaction
for doing my duties toward fellowmen.
Some loads are meaningful and solid.
Others are obscure and remain fluid.
But my trading partners are willing
to wait and pay me, for sure, in-kind.
My ship must travel distances across
many waters of life, sometimes calm
freshwater rivers of happiness, or wild
oceans with hidden reefs of miseries.
Will my ship be in warm Tropics
or in the frigid Arctics? I must calculate.
In the morning chill of the dockside,
I check the Plimsoll line for my assurance.
That precise white circle with a line
across, flanked by mysterious codes,
is tattooed on the skin of the mid-ship.
As the line hovers near the reflecting
water line, the magic code instructs me,
about the load balance, about decisions
I, the captain of the ship, must make.
How much of dead-weight emotions
must I discard if the line dips underwater?
My watch must be perpetual.
Author’s Note: “The Plimsoll line is a reference mark located on a ship’s hull that indicates the maximum depth to which the vessel may be safely immersed when loaded with cargo. This depth varies with a ship’s dimensions, type of cargo, time of year, and the water densities encountered in port and at sea.”
Pic : http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/plimsoll-line.html
