one hundred miles at sea

i wrote this in December 1970 on the East China Sea as my tour of taking ROK troops to Vietnam and back on USNS ships was winding down. It was included in my book of poems, A Pocket of Resistance: Selected Poems, under the title “Morning at Sea.” Something just moved me as i came across it again this morning to post it here.

one hundred miles at sea
this morning,
i saw a gull
flapping white
against the tremolo wind,
whitest i’ve ever seen;
the gull was captured
in a prism of time
from which i shall soon escape
to watch and listen
for mockingbirds.

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