The Pequot Sound

I was fifteen. New London. The ocean, of course,
The Coast Guard Lighthouse.
They would wave at you.

I did not know how to sail.
I took the Sunfish out anyway--
     into the wind.

THIS is what I saw.

If you violate the 180 degree rule,
     in the distance,
you can almost see a brown sliver,
the beaches on the Thames.

Always the white houses, grey roofs.

          I was drifting not quite towards Long Island.
I whimpered until I learned
     (Myself)
how to steer using rudder and sail.