The Engineers
Get the
engineers to hoist a sail, pull on sheet
they thought
was halyard – you’ll get great laugh
out of watching
their fumble, their tremble as
they stare at
disturbed forestys’l flogging in the wind.
But forget not
they who retire belowdecks, into
the very belly
of our Bobby, they are worthy of
as much honor,
and as noble as the navigators.
Yea, step but
into their world, and you become
as they
hopeless on the decks, their they reign
with strange
custom and knowledge the power
of electricity!
Watch these men engage in
magic
as they coax
the sails of bass to life! They raise
a sail of iron
into the water, while the sails of cloth
fail in wind
onslaught. They cheat the very breeze!
Look, the ship
does the impossible, going headlong
into the airs,
its speed undiminished but augmented
by the work of
engineers!
But this
is only their first
show of technic
skill – next they ope the sea chest
and breach the
hull! Yet the ship does not fill to
brim with brine
of ocean, but freshwater, as if
they found
sweet spring upon the desert, unlocked
unknown rivers
amidst the treasury of deadly water!
Their silent
grin betrays another feat, this time as
they infuse
life into roaring machine, master and
load the thing
as if beast of burden, to spread light
and electric
spark to all other things aboard: a new
fire from a new
Prometheus, to light the galley oven
and enliven the
glowing tablets for our project work.
These men are
inducted as guardians of the new
wheel, upon
which drives the civilization of the
moderns, which
drove us to land and space conquer –
but not yet the
relentless sea, harsh master that it is.
Now none laugh
as they emerge from their lair,
save them, the
strange men, that laugh as shipmates
dumbfounded
beware their wake, lest they try
another work
upon a ship made bright and brilliant
by their
discreet toil. Their privilege is no more
questioned by
silenced grumbles, lest they check
the heads and
stop the reefer from providing bit
of comfort so
far away from land. Instead they
take the helm
beside the Kaptain, all content.
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