-- The Arabian Dhow --
By John Herlihy
The Arabian dhows ply the waters with amazing grace;
With respect, sunlight softly caresses their dignified face.
The triangular lateen-sails billow in the wind full-blown,
On the Upper Nile and shores of Zanzibar, forever known.
Their hand-crafted wooden frame speaks of another time,
A time born of the ages carved into the boat’s silent rhyme.
What primitive culture had imagination to create such beauty,
To tenderly place it amid the gulf waters out of sincere duty.
I see them from my window sailing through the sunlit bay,
As they sail across the waters of my heart to enrich my day.
To what safe harbor destined, from what far harbor drawn,
The ancient dhow carries a nobility that can touch the dawn.
Qataris, Yeminis, Omanis have all plied open waters of ocean,
Standing at the mast of this sacred vessel in proud devotion.
- - - - - -
(c) John Herlihy 1 February 2019
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The middle eastern region is nearly devoid of shipbuilding timbers, largely because so many of those magnificent trees like the Cedars of Lebanon were used to build these ships and those great forests remain today only in the memory of the beautifully carved vessels passed down through the centuries.
Ron
Love ya!
Jane