A'SAILIN' by Cynthia Bernard

 

A’sailin’

‘T’would seem quite true I never was

the captain of this ship,

though in my youth I did believe

in charting my own trip.

But Master Time has made it clear

how lowly is my rank.

I’ve silver locks and aching limbs

and soon I’ll walk the plank.

One thing I’ve learned as days go by

a‘sailin’ life’s rough seas:

It doesn’t work to push against

what comes upon the breeze.

For when I tried to turn the tide,

instead the tide turned me;

the Sea of Life dictates for us

in ways we can’t foresee.

‘T’is true that we are powerless

to stop waves high and low,

but we can choose to welcome both

the pleasure and the woe.

And so this ship does carry me

through seas both sweet and tart.

When I embrace my life, I live

with full, contented heart. 

("A'sailin' " was published on Your Daily Poem in December, 2022.)

Cynthia Bernard is a woman in her late sixties who is finding her voice as a poet after many decades of silence. A long-time classroom teacher and a spiritual mentor, she lives and writes on a hill overlooking the ocean, about 20 miles south of San Francisco. 

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