All poetry found here is written and owned by Daniel Marvin, and may not be reproduced without written permission.
My inspiration for this book
What are the chances,
when you are asking for a sign?
What are the chances,
It would come so soon and be so apparent?
What are the chances,
a brilliant flash of gold light,
the most beautiful thing you have ever seen!
What are the Chances,
It would show you the way to a place,
where you will find other people like you,
and you no longer feel so alone,
What are the chances?
A million to one!
Dan Marvin
The Lightship and me
We spent our lives at sea
We did our jobs well through
All kinds of hell
The Lightship and me
We have found a new home
Where the tourists roam
The Lightship and me
We love all the faces
Who come from many places
The Lightship and me
Dan Marvin
We’d started the trip one afternoon before,
Spent the night drifting about twenty miles offshore.
We awoke to a large and long ocean swell,
Now all that was needed was the Northwest wind to turn.
All into a floating hell.
Captain Ned said we should head back in,
Give it a few days and then we’ll try it again.
When we reached the Whistler, we discovered we were not alone, there was a Coast Guard 44 and six more all circling and listening to the horrible groan.
The Motor Lifeboat went first, made it across.
She then turned and faced the bar, her crew prepared for a loss, then one by one the little fleet slipped on in.
Every Captain knows when crossing the bar, a place where there is no turning back.
You line up on the ranges, the adrenaline starts to flow, and your only thought is to
hold a strait tack.
The six boats before us caught the right sets,
But like the eye of a hurricane, it wasn’t meant to last,
The waves stacking up behind us towered over our mast.
The bow dropped and the stern began to rise,
Nothing to do but grab on for the ride of our lives!
First, she tried to roll, then she tried to pitchpole,
At one point I could almost see straight down into the hole!
Her heavy wood-spoked wheel could no longer be held tight,
She spun wildly to the left and back to the right.
When we finally hit bottom,
There was a tremendous roar,
The fifty-year-old boat couldn’t handle much more.
Water shot into the wheelhouse, seeped through
every crack and I’m sure the deck was buried,
If I’d been able to look back.
Then in a defiant tribute to the long-gone boat-wrights, who built her
“Hell for Stout” in 1923, she twisted and turned,
And finally, broke free of the wave that held her.
She launched out of the foam and was pointed straight,
For home, and nothing was going to stop her.
The 44 came along-side and the coxswain said we’ve never seen anything like that,
almost impossible to survive.
You men are lucky to be alive.
As we continued in, I turned back with a grin and thought to my twenty-one-year-old self.
Nice swing, and that’s a miss Satan,
The one you just took at me,
But I made no deals with you, and I draw
My power from the Sea!
Dan Marvin
We came for the money
Our bodies were young and strong
I kissed her cheek
We bonded with touch
Our bodies were young and strong
It was a brief encounter
We bonded with touch
She turned and looked
It was a brief encounter
In her eyes, I saw a question
She turned and looked
She exists in the haze now
In her eyes I saw a question
I kissed her cheek
She exists in the haze now.
We came for the money.
Dan Marvin
She was so pretty.
She was so fine.
All I knew was she had to be mine
But that dreaded call of the sea.
She got the best of me and
I let her go for a long, long time.
Our lives set different courses.
Hers to the east and
mine to the west and I thought to myself.
Maybe it is just for the best.
We went on to buy houses.
With our new spouses and the kids came soon after
But like any true sailor a man of the sea
We would weather the long hours and endless storms.
Dreaming of a woman and what it could be.
The decades passed by, first one.
then two and finally three and four,
and I thought to myself.
My God! I have never wanted her more.
You see true love is a chain,
that can never be broken.
Even throughout the years when
Words could no longer be spoken.
Fate brought us back together and
I said to myself, finally at last.
I held her so tightly and brushed back her hair.
But as my lips touched hers,
I knew what was amiss.
You see it was a loving.
Sister Kiss
Original Sea Poetry by Dan Marvin
On one of my frequent trips up the inside passage back in the 1980’s we stopped at Ketchikan, and I walked into a local watering hole. There was a double-sided painting behind the bar that I have never forgotten. On one side it showed a young man sitting with his girlfriend at the bar with this little dream cloud over his head and he was dreaming about being back on the boat working. On the other side it showed him working on the boat dreaming about being back at the bar with his girlfriend. Anyone who has a lot of time on the ocean would completely understand this.
So, this is my lighthearted interpretation of that picture.