September Alone
- by Linn Barnes
September Alone
by Linn Barnes
The beach before any light early
Dark and loud the ocean a mystery
The late night early morning wind
Spiking you to the very core of you
You dig in your sand spike
Secure your rod in the tube
Unfold and dig in your chair
Arrange your bait and board
Then you sit for a moment
Listening to the waves
Shuttling in the morning tide
About an hour to full flood
You bait a single hook
The sea is agitated but
Not rough in the rising chilly wind
Three ounces of lead will suffice
Then you cast for the first time
Always the most promising
When everything is possible
Into the mysterious dark and beyond
Once the lead has reached bottom
You trim in some and check the
Star drag firm but not too tight
As you stand waiting in the dark water
The waves washing over your waders
In the cool September sea
The tide flooding fast now
On a growing north east breeze
The dark begins to yield to a glow
A lightening shadow piercing the east
A long low line at the horizon
Emerging and picking up speed
This birthing of new light
Feeds your fertile imagination
Now synched to the generative force
All bringing the day into being
The light is sparking more wind
Cutting through your outer shell
The wind is pouring in the tide
Now crashing into your legs
The lead now freed from the bottom and
In motion bouncing slowly to the south
You keep the line tight and focused
Seeing only the now rising light
A fiery red saber on the horizon
Cleaving into the night
Bringing the new light
On a collision course with the day
Then a nudge a tentative taste
A scent for something out there
Hungry in the rising light
Focused on the fresh cut flesh
Nothing for a long instant
Then a hit doubling the huge rod
You wait not daring to strike back
Until you do burying the hook deep
The strike staggers you back in the sand
You recover and dig in your boots
The fish is swimming through the drag
And you let him have his way
There is a lull and you reel
Recovering some lost line
The fish swims for the deep
Fighting the punishing drag
The fish stops and then
Turns north parallel to the shore
The line peeling out
As you tighten the star drag
This is a great new weight
Which the fish does not understand
He knows only this strange slowness
Where all he knew before was speed
You sense his coming weakness
And pull the rod high to recover line
The fish turns toward the shore
For a moment free of the pressure
You now reel as fast as you must
To sustain the deadly symbiosis
To ensure he cannot spit the hook
He is probably not even aware of
But the fish is no where near finished
He turns hard to the south with the current
Vectoring at maybe forty five degrees
Off the shore back toward the deep
Now you must turn him again
You tighten the drag punishing him
You reel in with all your strength
Your arms and legs on fire now
He turns again toward the shore
Then north parallel to where you stand
He is now closer to the crashing waves
And the fiery new light is rising
Then in the spray now clear in the wind
The fish leaps into the salted air
Twisting and shaking his perfect body
And crashing back into the spray and the waves
You use his leap to recover more line
Now with the rising sun burning into your face
You manage to muscle him past the breakers
And into the shallow water in front of you
He is a beautiful large striped bass
Maybe fifteen pounds maybe less
With the rod in your right hand
You dive for the huge fish
You first grab him by the tail
But it is too slippery for any purchase
You spin his head toward you with the line
And stab into his gills with your left hand
The fish is still fighting madly
As you drag him to shore
Knowing you could easily lose
Him with the merest hesitation
But you do not lose him
You administer the coup de grace
With the priest hanging from your right side
And you collapse spent to your knees
Into the wet sand and shallow surf
The waves booming with the rising wind
The sea spray mercifully anointing you
At this fiery dawning of another day