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Jul 9, 2010

The Dock


The dock waits patiently.

It waits for boats to putter in after a day
of surfing underneath the sunshine, 
cool spray on the bow dancing in between
the rainbows that glisten off the lake, 
skipping over waves of laughter like a rock 
thrown perfectly across the water by the hand of God.

The boats adore the dock because it is 
so stable and secure and never strays, 
though the dock pines for watery adventures
it only hears about in orphaned scraps of conversation 
that fall upon it as it strains its weathered ear 
to eavesdrop over hollow footsteps and rolling laughter 
while sea boots trod heavily 
- THUMP THUMP THUMP - 
toward the local bar and stories full of 
What A Fool Believes spill out of the galoshes.

The dock, it seems, is a friend of the boats on a need to know basis only,
and the boats do not believe the dock needs to know so much. 
They only seek it out at the end of a long day, 
its brightly colored buoys of cheer lining it like 
so many fancy baubles as it reaches out 
across the harbor to gather the crafts and shield them 
from the nightly storm until the sun begins to tease
once more with its playful song.

Deep into the evening after several pints of local ale and 
endless dances with any pretty girl who will listen to tall tales of rogue waves 
and phantom serpents and lewd jokes that are bellowed 
in a language only sailors (and docks) can understand, 
they stumble back along the dimly lit familiar path, 
eyes closed, mostly,
and crawling into bed are rocked to sleep by the dock 
as it cradles them gently like an infant 
and creaks a lullaby composed by the sounds along the shore, 
time kept by the metronome of the lapping waves.

"Good ole dock," they mumble as they do a different kind of drifting.

4 Passengers in the Car:

Brian Miller said...

ha. until all the rocking sends then hurling off the side of the dock. smiles.

i like to sit on the dock...nice storytelling...

Felicitas said...

This is lovely! The poetic tale of the life of a dock... very creative.

Magpie said...

I must wonder where your inspiration came from since you live in the desert! Wonderful job!

Cathi said...

My cousins in Nebraska have a nice dock that I used to love to just sit on and daydream...xxoo :)