A’sailin’: A Poem by Cynthia Bernard

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A’sailin’

‘Twould 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.

‘Tis 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.

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Cynthia Bernard is a long-time classroom teacher and an emerging writer of poetry, short fiction, and creative nonfiction. She lives on a hill overlooking the ocean, about 25 miles south of San Francisco. Her work has appeared in Multiplicity Magazine, Passager, Verse-Virtual, Poetry Breakfast, The Seattle Star, and elsewhere. She was selected by Western Rivers Conservancy to serve as the Poet-Protector of Deer Creek Falls in the northern Sierra Nevada foothills.