Boston by Land and Sea

We have come to Boston
driving halfway across the country
taking turns driving or
sleeping between rest stops
so to get there faster.

We spent today aboard the USS Constitution,
in full sail leaving Boston Harbor behind us
as we approach the open sea.
Sails billowed in the freshening wind
and we sailed back in time.
He scampered up the rigging like a pro
and waved to me
from the crow's nest.
He was silhouetted in the sun,
a brave warrior defending our nation.
'Two if by sea...'
We walked the decks of history today
and tonight
we walk in history's footsteps
tracing red footprints down cobble-stoned alleys and
up Beacon Hill.
We were quiet making rubbings
on an old tombstone of Josiah Otis
outside Old North Church
as high in the steeple-d window
a lantern hung...
'One if by land.'

We follow the foot prints down past
Boston Common where a brass mother duck
leads her ducklings across the path.
'Make way for ducklings'...whispered into the wind.
Up Newberry Street to Quincy Market.
A frenetic mass of humanity pauses to applaud
                      a clown
                        with
            size twenty
        green sneakers
                        and a blue nose
                juggling
                            firesticks
              while
                        balancing
              on a
                  unicycle.

We meander into Durgin Park
and exit munching
on steak sticks and poor man's oysters
as we skip along the Salt and Pepper Bridge
and cross the Charles River.
'and I on the opposite shore shall be...'
We've walked across thirty-six years
`of two hundred years ago history today
as well as two wars
and an invincible ship.

In a small cafe on a stone and brick terrace
we sip steaming coffee;
relaxed
watching candle flame flicker
across each other's face.
He takes my hand
and we sit in companionable silence
as we listen to the Boston Pops orchestra
play the 1812 Overture
punctuated by cannon fire and fire works
over the river.

We've waited twenty years
and crossed half a country
to have this day
and this night in Boston.
He has lived his dream to walk the decks
of Old Ironsides
and I have lived mine
to walk beside him.


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July 19  (Your poem must be posted by 10 PM WDC time)
Prompt Subject:  Hot in the City! (Tell me about an evening outing to the city.)
Word(s) to use:  clown
Word(s) not to use:  city, street, light(s), building, noise, noisy, people, crowd(ed, s)
Other requirements/restrictions:  Show don't tell