sailors of the soul

the sea of life shifts constantly, our anchors holding to the distant floor of unseen depths, where we are is uncharted except for the sight of the other tethered vessels. we take solace in their nearness but despair should a rising sea send their wooded shells crashing with fury into our own, sending us both to our watery grave. the sea is teeming with life small and terrifyingly huge, the eyes of the deep are blank and lifeless but the passion for the ocean never ends and the waves of feeling are unceasing. we are the lost sailors of the soul, there is no port or friendly harbor but our own berth and scully kitchen below. we fly no flags lest we be taken for someones enemy or distant relative for what we have is not enough to share. the sea is a lonely place and we cannot remember how we came to be so lost and far from home. life is simple and the demands are few, the weather and the sun are our only knowledge and they are unpredictable. the escape from them is death itself. only the wisdom of the stars and moon bring any solace from the glaring visions of the light. between the rest and the waking there is little to distinguish for we dream only of the voyage and never of the destination. yet there is come to pass a great storm that destroys all before it and every ship is lost but one and you are clinging to its battered deck for it is the strength of your form that has saved you in your desperate struggle though angry waters and the giant ship is filled with the bodies of the survivors. and none can see or speak any language you have ever heard. and they arise shaken and arms outstretched and begin to man the many sails and rigging and rudders and even climb to the tallest cats perch atop the highest mast to gaze with unseeing eyes afar and at nothing. and their way is set unknowable to you and the dance of their motions is more art than mechanics and you feel a stirring inside for their lithe features and soul darkened eyes. all is mystery and they treat you as they are themselves, drifters seeking drifting but they see another horizon they cannot share. and here is your story begun with only you having words to finish. See without looking and feel without knowing and the destination will always be there.