I disagree with my tall friend from Plum Island. I am not nearly so well read as Michael. I had never seen this, until it came in over the hooper, but I instantly knew whose it was. There is a technical term, "litotes," which Alan and I came to grips with when translating the Wulf. It means "heroic understatement." I suspect the author of this poem is a young woman married to a naval officer protecting us in the Persian Gulf. Litotes. And yes, Mr. Casssity, the dog runs away with the poem.
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