She had been made with love and care

Timber, the best brought from distant woods

Nails and bolts wrought by many a smithy

Many a looms had sat spinning her canvas...

The tale of a ship and its quest for a home

A Saling Ship

image: www.travelwithachallenge.com

She had been made with love and care

Timber, the best brought from distant woods

Nails and bolts wrought by many a smithy

Many a looms had sat spinning her canvas

Along smooth lines and seamless curves was she built

Till there she stood tall and proud

were they to set upon her,

a delight to the eyes she was sure to be

And the sea wild, had spied her too

Besotted by her charms, had frothed in joy

Waves had it set gambolling upon her

higher than usual tides it sent her way

dancing in exalt on espying something so wondrous built

verily it landed at her door

And forthright asked of her to be its betrothed

She did recoil with a veritable shudder

*Whatever gave you the idea

that we are meant for each other?

look at me, I’m streamlined of the finest timber

my ancestry can be traced to the best in the forest

grounded, deeply rooted, the trees

my dress, the cotton from distant lands

it’s to the earth I belong to, for I’m born on land

Have you ever felt your own saltiness,

or stopped to look at yourself?*

*Spread all over, once here and thence there

Carried by unknown currents

No one knows where next you abound

pray what do you think we have in common?

For, two different elements we are

ne’er the twain is meant to meet

go back please to where you belong

were I to troth you I’d verily sink

somewhere over there you meet the sky

and from that edge I’d fall off in demise!*

The sea hurt, miffed and mystified

knowing not what more to say, deny or defy

withdrew its suite and tides,

returned to its depths

and all that was seen of it

was some gentle lap of distant waves

She, now calmed, heaved a sigh of relief

for having passed such a torment

a tumultuous storm of belief!

Who’d e’er heard such utter drivel?

So far fetched a proposal?

What could the undulation of fluid waves offer

to her stolidity, her solidity, her timber, her teak!

Now secure was she on her terra firma

yet her soul remained bestirred

there was still an eerie entice of the wave’s depth

carrying within some hidden decree

Thus e’er so often she’d slinked to the shore

to hear the song of the gentle wash of waves

in the water of the tides, dip her toes

she stayed on land yet the shore became her abode.

For now the metal on wheels didn’t draw her desires

nor did the mansions seem like her keep

the breeze carried some strange dirge of rout

Nothing could she find in which to fit into

in her own realm she found herself

an alien in increasing degrees

Thus she continued to be parked at the edge of water

giving the excuse she wanted to feel the breeze

while she inhaled the saltiness off the air

she kept herself safe at the water and land’s crease

ever entranced by the roll of the waves.

She did keep alive her dreams though

of her roost she’d make in her very own realm

while the lap of water within her

a mysterious rhythm did keep

Until one day she felt suddenly the sea roil over

sent breakers crashing towards her

stormy waves struck her bosoms

and then queried off her in indignation

*Pray what’s this enactment?

Of letting go and not letting be?*

caught in the swirl of waves she trembled

her timbers shaken, she had to visit the holds of her truths

*I won’t deny the call, the cry of my heart

but am straddled by unknown quandary

torn between half commitments and half desires

of where I belong and where I should be

I don’t wish to come to you

bestride such onerous horns of dilemma

I won’t enter your dominion until I’ve come to hate The realm, the land which’s now my home and I’m free!*

The sea did hear her out quietly, remained silent awhile

then asked *‘Your realm you say?

Pray can you tell me where your land is?’*

she opened her mouth to speak, but gasped

looking down there was only waves all around

she turned back to spot her land and found it

a distant speck on the horizon

Unknown whence, immersed in the play of waves

her sails seeking breeze, had opened up and fluttered

who knows when entranced by a lapping rhythm

she had suddenly floated out of her familiar depths

and as was to be, she was finally adrift on destiny

The choice was now upon her as to whether

she were to sink or to set sail

or straddling the shore serve some muse's purpose

yet be neither of the land nor of the sea

  • Avi

Something I had written a couple of years back. This looked at 'Let Go' from another perspective.