A few years back while driving through the Parker River Wildlife Refuge with my girlfriend who I frequented the Refuge with for long drives, walks and talks, our conversation drifted to our mutual friend, Cappy, who was dying of cancer.
It looked like today might be the day, she told me and we drove along in silence. A little further along the road I stopped the car and took a photo of a cloud that we both thought looked like an angel. It was Cappy’s Angel, I said. Not long after I dropped her off and got home myself, she called to tell me he had passed. I sat staring at the the photo of Cappy’s Angel on my computer and the words poured out onto my notebook.
Ode to Cappy
Another soul slipped through the crack today.
Gone, gone, gone
from this river, he will be,
never again to trawl the sea.
Last summer he pulled in his last net,
he hauled up his last catch,
and he shucked his last scallop shell.
He never threw the little ones back.
Cappy caught the last fishing boat today, ending the pain
but I suspect if you asked him where he was going
he’d have said,
I’m going straight to hell, cracking a toothless smile.
I remember the last time I saw him
that smile stretched as wide as the sea.
He was acting like an eccentric fisherman,
however, that might be.
Cappy had a soft spot, much like a tender, tiny scallop.
The ones he never threw back,
those were the most precious
he would crow, and of course he would know.
We saw an angel in the clouds today
not long after Cappy’s name came up in conversation.
He’s still hanging on to the life raft you said,
not ready to be set free.
Cappy was of the river and the sea,
and they were too, of Cappy.
He knew every river inlet intimately,
he lived to roam the sea.
I took a picture of that angel cloud
I didn’t know why when.
Not long after I dropped you off, the word came,
light a candle for Tommy, he has passed.
Some folks will say
this river will never be the same without Cappy.
I cannot help
but agree.
I’ve written a few elegies over the years, to my parents, my friends. Not always easy, but a helpful way to find sense and meaning in someone’s lives after they pass.
Thanks for reading… Stay tuned to for new posts this week — A Daily Affirmation and more…
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Points of Note:
Poet's note: This piece was written March 9, 2017 to an old friend who passed quietly away from cancer. Cappy was a crusty, feisty fisherman who I’d known for decades. Cappy’s best friend and his wife were also good friends of mine, but I had know Cappy since high school. He was also a friend of my daughter’s father who passed many years before.
Remember to breathe when things get stressful and as always, be kind to one another.
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Hugs.
Thanks for sharing, Pamela. Those of us who've lived near the sea knew someone like your friend Happy, an old salt who was happiest put on the water.