Nights and Stars
Nights and Stars There are nights at sea when everything I think I know about stars is exploded by the great mass of them, their clamor and proximity. The universe then becomes a single song, however infinite its notes and rhythms. The women I sail with hum when aloft, afraid a little of what might breach a calm sea, break a horizon. They keep their boundaries neat by never singing the whole song. They coil real hemp. They hone a real harpoon. Some starry nights though, the song boils up unbidden. What death-defying work then to keep the hands at small tasks, to keep their voices from joining in. Sherry Robbins, or, The Whale, BlazeVOX [books]
Sherry Robbins 