46 For Skyhooks

The Arsenal

I thought I wasn't going to be able to write a poem for the Skyhooks meeting tonight, what with all the tax problems and school stress and I don't know what all.  But I sat down a half hour before the meeting and the muse whispered another poem about Venice into my waiting ear.  The metaphorical shipbuilding refers to an event in Venetian history in which a visiting ambassador was shown how the assembly-line work in the Arsenal could produce a grand, fierce, Venetian war galley in a single day, from boards to boat.

 LIKE YOU, VENICE

I once ruled my corner of the earth

showing ambassadors of larger powers

that I could build and furnish fighting ships

in less time than they took to write a letter home

and now I seek no greater later years than yours --

filled with tourists weak with admiration

at my ancient spirit, picturesque in ruin,

but still working, still living, still enjoying

every morsel even as I slip into the sea.

(c) Kake Huck 2014