"The Sea"

"...He said, 'Tell me more of the sea.'
So I said, 'Challenge.'
The challenge of a rising gale or shifting breeze,
Of a wild sea or a flat calm,
Of a torn lashing sail or an ebbing tide,
Of an iced deck or fouled anchor,
Of uncharted waters or strange shore.
The challenge of God to man, to tame his sea..."

-- Jerome Thomas