Songs from the Open Sea

To anyone willing to listen,

At dusk someone on deck begins to sing, softly at first, one voice or two, until the whole ship is listening.

This letter was written aboard an ocean liner, February–March 1991, on a warm cream envelope. The title is a single long, flowing line of brush calligraphy, like a wave drawn slowly out. Below a blue engraved profile of the liner, horizontal ripples run in rows; there is also a lavender program stub printed with a musical staff, a coral sunset medallion, and thin brass-rule lines in the nautical manner.

A poet wrote for moments like these: "There is society where none intrudes, / By the deep Sea, and music in its roar." — Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1818)

So there is no need to say much; listening is enough. The sea sings the longest song there is, with no score and no final bar. Welcome. When you want to answer, a letter will do, and the song will play along.

May the sea breeze sing the harmony

Storm Post Office

February–March 1991 · At Sea