An Awareness Too Many

There a hundred reasons not to sail.
Your craft is old,
far from perfect.
There is rust and old ropes,
and barnacles on the waterline.

The seas are calm but you have sailed enough
to know storms are never distant.

You are aware of your weaknesses,
less so of your strengths,
less so of those who watch over you,
aware of your fears and skills
at building walls to hold back the dark waters.

Here, on the shore, it is safe.
The ground beneath your feet is solid
and does not shift with tides, currents, and weather.
It is safer

to ignore history,
that this old vessel
has made the journey out and back
for a generation,
that rust is not fatal,
that while shores are safe,

there are no adventures here,
no victories to set your heart soaring,
no hold piled with treasure
to be shared by strangers and lover alike,
promises made and kept
only in the launching off, never
in the settling in.

About this poem

Mostly we let our fear hold us back. Our fear of not being good enough.

And yet…. we are.

Tom