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The Sheet and the Knot

The sheet on a sailboat’s not the sail, but a rope—
rather line that lets a sail swing to the slope
you want to keep your craft and tack toward hope.

You close-haul, reach, or make a running angle
with the line you learn by heart (don’t let it tangle).
Sometimes you can cleat it off and let it dangle

if the breeze is steady and the water’s open,
the course is clear to doze, the calm unbroken
until you wake yourself to sheet the rope in