a tenuous thread blown on a breeze
woven into a net, to save us
you pull on the thread, i feel it,
a bowline that twitches under my rib

sometimes that pull can hurt me
then i know that you’re feeling pain
wrapping the thread round my fingers
to bring you back closer again

the connection between us all is frail
we can twist it, strain it, break it,
or twine it, thread it, weave it,
a beautiful knot that is strong

*****

The bowline is an ancient and simple knot used to form a fixed loop at the end of a rope. It has the virtues of being both easy to tie and untie and it is easy to untie after being subjected to a heavy load. But the bowline knots name has an earlier meaning, dating to the age of sail. On a square-rigged ship, a bowline is a rope that holds the edge of a square sail towards the bow of the ship and into the wind, preventing it from being taken aback. A ship is said to be on a “taut bowline” when these lines are made as taut as possible in order to sail close-hauled to the wind.