Tug Boat Christmas
Click for meditationRegarding "Tug Boat Christmas"
Lingering in the back of
My mind was a photograph I had
Seen some time ago. It was
Of a simple tugboat tied up in 2018
In Boothbay Harbor, Maine,
With a Christmas wreath
Adorning its cabin door.
I finally decided to write a poem
About this photograph,
To relieve the pall cast over
Me by Covid, and to
Celebrate something which
Was a total antithesis
To the somber mood draping
In black bunting over Christmas
And Hanukkah and other
Spiritual and secular holidays.
And so this poem portrays
A crimson-red cabin door,
Obviously a bit worn for wear,
But yet clearly well
Cared for over the years,
And hanging on this door is a
Christmas wreath, which
Hardened sea hands had
Hung just two years ago, when
Hope was the unequivocal
“Jingle bell” of the holiday season.
Leo Carroll
December 11, 2020
Crimson-red, peeling, but
Not too old yet, a buttress against
What needs to be outside kept,
An entry for what inside
Can be let, a door, layered and
Lathered in lovingly applied
Strokes, a porthole to
Safely look out in a howling
Sea, and at the same
Time to be opened for
Wondrous eyes, in hopes
Of catching St. Nick at work after
Hanging his Christmas wreath.