He, in his generosity and compulsion,

Presents us with a universe unknown

To lubbers such as we

Where straight men and not so straight

Confront, because there can be no other way for them,

The Inevitable:

the awesome powers of wind and water

the workings of chance

one's own angels and demons

ever-hovering Death

They, accumulated from everywhere and nowhere,

Pull together, though love and hate, or tempt the ultimate loss,

For one usually respects Death more than one cherishes hate

And so, the Captain-Master-God of each vessel

Forms his sometimes rebellious crew of disparate souls,

Whose peculiar desires combine to bring stuff from there to here

But the bringing and returning of other men's goods is not the goal

The prize is the self-recognition of

one's strength

one's resolve

one's skill

one's very manhood

Until the sea,

Or the land for those who tire before an honorable end,

Calls them to its forever embrace

09/29/2002

Posted on 09/29/2002
Copyright © 2026 Ronald A Pavellas