The Life of the Sea

In standing before you, awaiting the eternity of breath
Closed are the opportunities save the one final - death.
Yet peace fills my limbs.
An agitated mind calms
relinquishing regrets, freeing quirks, qualms.
I know this force that devastates by day
holds no bars over hearts and has very little to say.
No chains drag me down, no prison keeps me whole.
Nothing in this world can be the captor of my soul.
And I face infinity, alone and out of place
with waters washing over me - and a smile on my face.

In the days before the years began,
there was youth within this world.
There was fabric to sew and stitch by hand
for sails to be unfurrelled.
There were masts to make, a bow being born,
a sailor to be called to sea.
Unbeknownst to all, through transforming experience,
that sailor turned out to be me.
Happiness and fun became memories
as I embarked on a journey of tribulations and strife.
With fond farewells, I hoisted the mast and set sail,
weathering through the trials of life.
My mother's home - no longer the sanctuary
where I could rest and in comfort nestle.
I set upon a course of my own.
My own faith. My own vessel.
There were days I just glided through.
There were nights of raucous laughter.
Many times I thought I would not survive
and didn't want to - until the morning after.
In some things, I had right but there were faults for sure.
Each day was a step
and then one step more.
I gained knowledge through time but wisdom eluded me.
So goes the aging sailor midst the life of the sea.
Some storms were worse, cautious sails would rend
but the wise eye prevailed who knew where to mend.
Joy was discovered.
In alien lands, I found love.
These tales were told in the evening
to the stars directing from above.
My mother was the ocean.
My father, the stern hand of time.
The story of my life became legend,
bellowed in song and rhyme.

And now, ashore, I stand before you.
Emotions in motion before the breath of infinity.
Counting the sands of experience.
Aware of all that was dear to me.
Never a prisoner of circumstance.
I feel freedom and have reached my goal.
Nary a man nor a situation has been the captor of my soul.
Though these winds were a wild force at night,
the sun, a harsh critic by day.
I weathered through, with fabric intact
and thus have nothing left to say.
With all-encompassing eternity and the realization of destiny in place,
I allow the waters to wash over me
- a smile upon my face.