Day Shapes.(Poem)

 
DAY SHAPES 
 
"Washington State, with its wealth of natural resources, its hard- 
working and creative people, and its strategic trading position, 
is enjoying a vibrant economy. We are gathered together today to 
remember those who have fallen while helping us to build this 
unprecedented prosperity. Let us remember comrades such as Max 
Chamalbide, a crewman on the trawler Northern Jaeger, [who] died 
in an accident in Port Angeles last summer" 
 
--Governor Gary Locke "s Remarks, Worker Memorial Day, April 25, 2001 
 
   Moored and bitted to the pier, 
   Hawsers slacked and sloping, 
   Frayed until the bitter end, 
   But holding, holding strong. 
 
   Straits of San Juan de Fuca: 
   Light ships rise upon the flood, 
   Outbound freighters glimpsed 
   Rusty through the sea lane fog 
 
   Sound their bells and foghorns, 
   While a strange patch of sunlight 
   Graces sleepy stevedores, 
   Ends a 24-hour offload. 
 
   A few linger at the rail, watch Max 
   On the barge below (stout deckhand 
   With a Cheshire smile). Three turns 
   To the four-ways hung down 
 
   From the amidships crane, 
   He double-hitches the sling line 
   About the belly of the giant 
   Stainless bull of a tank: 
 
   Four sturdy legs and steel horns 
   Welded tight to the 2-ton frame. 
   A foreman hollers as Max signals 
   With his hand to lift and hoist away. 
 
   Suspended now and swaying 
   In that strange spot of light, 
   The vessel gently rolls 
   At the heaving of the weight 
 
   Inclinometers gage 
   The starboard list. One 
   Last lift, dunnage stowed, 
   The ship soon under weigh, 
 
   Main engines warm to the task. ...