A Storm Remembered

This is an ekphrastic poem based on a painting that really spoke to me on a recent visit to the Louvre in Paris, France. The painting is Bateaux de pêche et cabotier par gros temps, dit Le Coup de Vent, 1677 by Ludolf Backhuysen. Translated, the title reads ‘Fishing Boats and Coaster in Stormy Weather, known as The Gust of Wind, 1677’. It is an oil on canvas painting that shows one, maybe two people on shore during a very stormy day watching what appear to be sailboats in a very rough sea. The colors are moody and very true to what a stormy day on the beach might feel like. The poem reads like a memory.