Poem

Testament

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

Written for Crispina’s Crimson’s
Creative Challenge #038.
I have chosen photo #4.
This is my poem.

© Crispina Kemp

The splintered dream, the wooden sail,
a ship of oak against the gale.
No canvas breathes, no ropes unwind,
but carved from trees, a different kind.

The hull of redwood, deep and vast,
defies the waves that crash and cast
their salty spray, a liquid sheen,
upon the grain, a weathered scene.

Mahogany masts, a reaching hand,
to skies unknown, a promised land.
Each plank precisely fit and true,
a testament to what wood can do.

The sails, like shields of polished pine,
catch whispers of the wind’s design.
They groan and creak, a woody song,
as onward bound, where they belong.

NAR©2025

This is “Wooden Ships” by Crosby, Stills & Nash

Crimson’s Creative Challenge #038

All text and graphics are copyright for Nancy’s Notes 🖊️🎶, The Sicilian Storyteller, The Elephant’s Trunk, The Rhythm Section, et al., and are not to be used without permission. NAR©2017-present.

42 thoughts on “Testament”

    1. Thanks very much, Jim. I have no carpentry skills at all but one of my mother’s uncles was a carpenter and I loved watching him working with wood. It’s such a satisfying craft …. and smells wonderful, too! I’m glad to know you enjoyed my poem.

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    1. My husband grew up on City Island in NY, a real honest-to-goodness island. The main industry was/is boating with marinas and boat yards down almost every side street (there is only one main street down the middle of the island; on one side are residential side streets while all the marinas are on the opposite side of Main St.). My husband spent many summers working in one of the marinas; he knows just about all there is about boats and fishing. One of my mother’s uncles was a carpenter; he and my husband were my inspiration. I’m so pleased to know you enjoyed my poem, Penn. Thank you!

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      1. It sounds fantastic, Nancy, … I’d love to have experience life in a marina or near one shall I say, … life on the water…. We hired a cruiser once, … on the Norfolk Broads, … and after experiencing that we had plans at one time to own a narrowboat, … but it didn’t come to fruition, … I wonder what life would be like if it had. Anyway, I’m getting off the point., … your inspiration, … I love hearing background stories, … and carpentry working with hands on wood, … ‘Tis a marvellous skill … have a great Monday Nancy, … the Sun is shining here, …💫🤗💫

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        1. The photos we have of him and his twin brother, little tykes, hair dyed platinum from the sun, a small beach at the end of each little side street …. it was paradise, the perfect environment for a kid to grow up. ☀️ Hope your day is going well; it looks like mid-March here, gray and windy. Blah!

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          1. Erm, … We are experiencing a very hot spell, … And I’m not a fan, …(And I haven’t got a fan either)… I’m a middling sort of person temp wise, Nancy, aren’t I terrible, … But here’s an idea, Why don’t we swap, …😉

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    1. Thank you, Fan. The song choice was a given. My two inspirations for this poem were my mother’s uncle who was a wonderful carpenter and Bill, who spent many summers (when he wasn’t fishing) working on and building boats when he lived on City Island. I’ve been regaled with boat tales for 56 years! Nice to see they finally paid off.

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