I stand mesmerized.
Dawn brings serenity’s beauty
rippled patterns glisten on black sea
gulls hover over softly churning wake.

Moving patterns of white wings
against dark greens and grey rock edges
the occasional light house turns its eye
wood frame homes nestle in their woods.

The ship slowly glides in dark waters
silent through Sweden’s archipelago
guardian isles to myriad lines of ancestry
protector, barrier from encroaching cities.

A lone welcome call from among the gulls
pierces the still air with its starkness
primitive in nature and surely also heard
by our grandfather and his and his.