For Jack Lytton - brother-in-law - who has just signed off this life to chart the great unknown.

.............................................................................

It's the tang of the spray

On a bright summer's day

When you're carried along by the breeze.

It's the bite of the wind

When your face feels skinned,

Salted by cold winter seas.

 

It's the spin of the wheel

And the smoothness of steel,

Beneath the spread of white sail.

It's the dip of the prow

Of a rocking-horse bow

Nodding its way through the gale.

 

It's the storm...then the balm

Of the following calm,

Peace coming after the thrill.

It's the skill improvised

And the dreams realised -

Adventure is beckoning still.

...........................................................