10 december 2023

By Philip Kuepper

As I sat waiting in traffic at the drawbridge,
raised to let pass through Mayflower II,
a sudden, delightful thought
scurried up the rigging of my mind
depositing in one crow’s nest
Herman Melville,
in the other, Richard Henry Dana,
seeing who first could spot
Mystic Seaport in a shore fog.
A majestic ship, even if only a replica,
and certainly storied in history,
along with Melville and Dana,
I thought Winthrop, I thought
Mather, I thought Squanto.
And this just a week past
Thanksgiving. I gave thanks to Squanto.

(3 December 2023)