Tea for the Tillerman

“Bring tea for the Tillerman
Steak for the sun
Wine for the women who made the rain come
Seagulls sing your hearts away
‘Cause while the sinners sin, the children play

Oh Lord how they play and play
For that happy day, for that happy day”
Cat Stevens (Yusif Islam)

The painting came through way before the title.

When months ago, as the sketchbook notes remember for me, I was reaching about in the studio for my touchstones,
my eye settled across the room and over to the corner cupboard, home for many a maritime relic.

This wheel, this tiny helm, came to me by way of Jane Slater’s Menemsha shop many years back now.
It would barely fit on a fish platter and it is deceptively heavy.
The turned wooden handles earned their scars long before coming to rest in my studio.
Rugged stalwart hardworking circles within circles.

I set it next to the easel and waited for the Muses to speak.
But while they argued the tension itself was what I was listening to…

Tethering rope pulling hard to starboard
onward onward ever onward.

Delicate teacup poised with the confident compassion of
Slowdown, holdfast…we’ve got this.

But of course it isn’t about the wheel, or the teacup or the rope.
It’s about where the boat takes us.

And that depends
on the Tillerman.