Going to the Sea and Finding the Tyger Hawk and Love - A Poem by John Jay Licata

A lad of seventeen

In the Summer of Sixty-two -

Rode the SeaMar, the MassMar

And the Steel King -

Liberty Ships across an ocean

Humming and churning,

The engines would sing

All the night steady and bring

Upon sun risen sparkled waters

And through the Panama Canal

An aquamarine of a morning's Spring

And for signing on and paid a pittance,

These three ships journeyed me

Once afraid, then bold and brave onto

Heavens and moons and faces of Gods

From the bow, the deck and the bridge

Night stars and a trembling embrace

Of the first dreamings of Yahweh

And glimpses of love

From the faraway place,

The hand that makes fire, makes ice,

The calling song

Of a woman's heartbeat,

The Tyger Hawk and love...