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ULYSSES

In my young days I sailed along

the coastline of Dalmatia. Island clumps,

where an occasional bird hovered

intent on prey, rose above the water,

covered with seaweed, slippery, beautiful

as emeralds in the sun. When the high tide

and night blotted them out, sails

slid off to leeward further out to sea,

to escape their treachery. Today my kingdom

is that no-man’s-land. The harbour

turns on its lights for others; I am still

pushed out to sea by my untamed spirit,

my painful love of life.