Sailor’s Advice

erasure of a page from Samuel Pepys' diary

Boy in the bay, stay
and understand:
letters only attend
the coming of a sail.
Midway, we could see
places very pleasant;
the further we went,
the more we lost sight.
At cards, I come to see
my fruitless precaution,
getting without book
when I can get the book.


Erasure poem derived from The Diary of Samuel Pepys, Saturday 12 May 1660.

2 Replies to “Sailor’s Advice”

  1. I am enjoying this series so much. Always a pleasure to see it each morning (it’s morning here, and the Morning Porch post is an evening visitor). This one makes a lovely shape on the partly-erased page, complementing the sense of the poem.
    As for Bear Medicine … it’s tremendous!

    1. Thanks! I needed that. The Pepys erasures do come to seem like a chore sometimes, but so far inertia and a lot of enticing words from Mr. Pepys have kept me going. As for Bear Medicine, I envision just two more sections, and I think I have a clear idea of the penultimate one. Glad you’re liking it.

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