Saturday, December 22, 2018

Eyes


Eyes

Listless, wandering ship
Deep and darkened ocean
Infinite in its mystery
Forever in its awe
Sails limp and ineffective
Outside of the trade winds
I am nothing but a drifter

I cry out for help within
I hear nothing but the swells
The call of the depths
For just one more soul to devour

I hear a shuffle behind me
It is the half-blind, half-crippled deck hand
Beginning his daily routine
I don’t have to look to see him
I can smell his terrible odor
And I grow angry that he is there
Interrupting my thoughts and prayer

I long to see the eyes of God
To know some way out of this disaster
I hear nothing but the swells
The call of the depths 
For just one more life to devour

The deck hand begins to scour
Begins to scrub
The endless stain of salt and crumb
Off of the heart of the boat
I turn and look
He is peaceful, content
No sign of dour, no harsh intent
No complaining
No, he’s humming an old sailor’s song

“You there, sir” I call out to him.
He raises his face to me. 
One eye completely white 
A past trauma no doubt
The other a blue-green just like the sea

He answers not a word
He only looks directly into me

Just like the sea

“How can you go on like this?” I ask
“How can you go on in this vain repetition
Humming along, singing a song,
All the while we drift into nowhere?”

He continued looking into me

At this point I’m feeling quite ashamed
I don’t even know why
There’s something about those dichotomous eyes
That brings the entire universe into order

Finally he speaks

“I simply live in the now
Where I plant, where I plow
Is simply where I am
I trust the winds will guide me there
Though we cannot see the air
We know that it exists
Now…see the rustling in your hair…”

Twas true
As we talked there was a gull that flew
There was a presence of the breezes

The sails began to flicker but I wasn’t sure of what to do

I looked inquisitively at the deck hand again

“It’s ok, my son, it’s ok. The captain will make all things new.”

I then began to see
The answer to my prayer for God’s eyes to see
Was looking right into me
Was kneeling on the deck
Washing the crusts away

My ship was on its way.

12/22/18

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