Sailor Man: Directions by Karen Maeby Bates 1257pm ~ April 10, 2011
[COPYRIGHTED. Anyone who thefts this will get his/her arm chopped off and maybe set on fire. kthxbye.]

Oh Sailor Man – won’t you toss me your map? I ask, excitedly.
I have something I need to write, I need to write it right now… so these thoughts can’t escape!
‘Sure, crazy lady with the crown on her head.’ He replies.

Map front facing north, so it’s good luck.. .that my ideas won’t go south.
It’s directional, my heart thumps to the beat of my hand writing as fast as she can go
ideas flowing out so fast, too bad the pen isn’t as flow-y.
The boat starts rocking and the wind starts blowing; it’s a good thing I wrote it all down.

The Sailor Man yells, ‘I need my map – we’re going astray!’
The boat tosses me aside, as I try my best to deliver the map all in one piece.
Don’t lose this map, I say.  My life’s journey is written on there.
I have nothing else.

The water tosses the boat side to side. The Sailor Man tries his best to guide us.
It’s unseen. It’s late. The sun is closing his curtains and blinds.
It’s getting darker by the second, my heart is racing.

And, as I feared…
My life is tossed out to sea. The Sailor Man loses the map in the most strategic winds.
‘I’m so sorry…’ Was all he could say.

Tears fall into darkness, as I try go get my sleep for the night.
Not knowing if I will remember or what I will remember when I wake.
Ideas… hastily written on paper – all gone.
Washed away. Never to possibly be seen again. This is sad.

‘South – we’re going south.’ Is all that I remember when I fell asleep that night.
South. The direction south. Nice.

The sun arrives, smiling at me. What is this? I think to myself.
My arm hits a glass bottle as I try to raise myself up.

‘You’re up now? Finally. Opportunity shines. We’re heading a different direction now.’ The Sailor Man says, smiling at me.
‘I was able to guide us in the proper direction.’

Looking inside the glass bottle is a map rolled up with my hand writing on the back.

‘You can’t open the glass bottle right now. You have to write your own destiny without looking back. Go now, my dear. Time is a wasting. Your ship will be here in five minutes. Get ready. Your ship has come in.’ He says as he fades from my dreams.

This is what I’ve always wanted. To write the unwritten. To make my missions happen.
To create my own destiny through adventures of the walk of life.
The smell of the ocean breeze, a quaint boat dream and song being sung to me from nature.
Sea songs, let’s dream of sea songs. And, ever-lasting opportunity pouring from the palm tree leaves.
Let’s write – and let others read. Let’s make this be literature.
Let’s make this dream become a reality.  A’shore, a’shore.

 

EDITED: This poem is featured in my book ‘Maeby, It’s Only the Beginning’. You can read all about my book here and if you’d rather just skip to buying, you can buy my book on Amazon eBooks by clicking here. My book is only $5.95 and it features both high quality color photos as well as a poem equal to the photo number. 

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