Swans


 

Going Home
vii - Against the Wind

A Poem by Alma A. Hromic

 

Like the Polynesian sailors of old I navigate
my coracle by the stars.

They knew the wind. They took it
and tamed it and made it
blow them across the seas.

I see them pass in the night, the Navigators,
slicing the water silently in sharp-nosed boats carved
with heads of dragons
and faces of Gods,
homage and defiance,
their eyes on the sky
where the stars turn.

I sail against the wind,
fighting each breath; my boat uncarved, plain,
revealing nothing —
or perhaps revealing all
by absence.
My Gods
are not the kind that wear faces
or know sacrifices.
My Gods laugh,
and I can hear that laughter echo sometimes
through deep dreams.
My Gods bear gifts that at first sight
are thorns and ashes.

But my Gods stand beside me
and tell me of the stars I should follow
sailing the night seas
against the wind.


 

[Ed. Note: Seventh part of a 10-part poem. « Beginning | « Previous | Next »]

 
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Alma Hromic, the author with R. A. Deckert of Letters from the Fire, was born in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia. Trained as a microbiologist, she spent some years running a scientific journal, and later worked as an editor for an international educational publisher. Her own publishing record includes her autobiography, Houses in Africa, The Dolphin's Daughter and Other Stories, a bestselling book of three fables published by Longman UK in 1995, as well as numerous pieces of short fiction and non-fiction. Her last novel, the first volume of a fantasy series, Changer of Days: The Oracle, was published in September 2001 by Harper Collins. Hromic is an essential member of Swans. She maintains her own Web site (with Deck Deckert) where she provides information about her work and the professional services she offers: ButterknifeBooks.com

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This Week's Internal Links

Primum Non Nocere - by Gilles d'Aymery

The Case For A Committed American Imperialism - by Gilles d'Aymery

Welcome To Wonderland - by Aleksandra Priestfield

Bolívar's Ghost - by Michael Stowell

Self-Defeating Prophecy? The Tenuous Rise of the Greens - by Eli Beckerman

Business Attitude - by Milo Clark

Values, Devaluation -- Pun Or? - by Milo Clark

TIPS of the Iceberg - by Deck Deckert

Litigation Lottery - by James Longo

Letters to the Editor

 

Alma Hromic on Swans

Essays published in 2002 | 2001

On the Anniversary (September 2000)

Subject: Into Myth (September 2000)

Sadness in Novi Sad, Serbia (April 2000)

 


Published July 29, 2002
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