THE CHASE
"'Pull, pull, my hearts-alive; pull, my children, pull, my little one ...'
drawingly and soothingly sighed Stubbs to his crew."
​
Chapter 48 – The First Lowering
Finally!
After months of anticipation
'tis time to lower the boats
and join the chase!
Focus – Pull – Row!!
If anyone be a fraud,
now’s the time to reveal it.
All eyes on the prize!
Sea legs ever steady ‘midst
the rolling of the waves!
Ah …
‘twas a forlorn hope.
Back to the Pequod we row,
drenched to the skin and
no whale to show for it.
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Chapter 49 – The Hyena
​
What else to do but laugh --
laugh like a wild Hyena!
Tis a vast practical joke, this
riding the back of a whale on
a matchstick.
So sharpen the quill
update the will
and prepare to do it all again
Tomorrow.
​
Chapter 51 – The Spirit Spout
​
The waves rolled by like scrolls of silver.
‘Thar she blows!’
Whether truth, imaginings
or wishful thinking,
who could tell . . .
for no whale could be found.
and day
followed day
followed day,
With only birds to jar the
Silence.
​
Chapter 52 – The Albatross
Bearded, bedraggled kinsmen
sail silently past us
in a rusted ship.
The wind carries them
towards the end of their circle,
ending where they began as
schools of fish follow them
and they leave the Pequod behind.
Is this our future?
Our own circuitous route
seems endless,
a barren maze
with even Ahab subdued.
Chapter 86 – The Tail
​
Woe to that sailor, whiskers and all
when the fluke of a whale upon him does fall
and the oars and the crew around him do fly
and he’s floatin’ on his back starin’ up at the sky.
Yea, a grudging respect is all he can feel
for a wallop that lands with the weight of steel
and the planks of the boat around him do sprawl
very much as a juggler tosses his balls.
A mere man can offer little resistance.
Tis something to admire – but from a distance.
​
Chapter 131 – The Pequod Meets the Delight
​
So close, so close, so close . . .
Only a day away …
See there, that tattered whaleboat …
Over yonder, a foolish victim sliding
into his watery grave.
Only yesterday they faced
the White Whale but
were no match for him -
Ha!
He is mine, all mine . . .
and I am closing in.
​
Chapter 133 – The Chase – First Day
​
In a culmination of
frenzied anticipation,
the ultimate prize presents itself,
rising from the waves with
a hump like a snow-hill.
MOBY DICK AT LAST!
Ahab is ready.
Fearless!
And tossed
overboard.
​
Chapter 134 – The Chase – Second Day
​
"I am the Fates’ lieutenant,"
Ahab confides to Starbuck,
"I act under orders."
Unlike God, Fate has no mercy,
its urgency a
driving force that ignores
all good angels who
mobbing thee with warnings.
Reason and caution
play no part
in a feverish mind.
​
Chapter 135 – The Chase – The Third Day
​
The sea is calm,
gentle waves lapping
as sunlight shines through
their transparent folds
in glittering shades of
gold and green and blue.
No trace remains of
what transpired here …
The chase
The chaos
The splattered bodies
and scattered planks
of wood that
were once a ship …
Does any of it matter?
Tis the same sea Noah knew
Lo, these five thousand years.
Nothing’s changed.
Man’s hubris continues
unabated,
Making no difference
at all.