Paper Boats

 

A world too soon, so big, opens wide

All the rainbow rills rush forth farewell

Everything sails against the wind; current in tributary

My boyhood dreams no exception to this swell

 

Whirlpool thoughts swirl memories dormant lie

Paper boat caught melting under a Crayola sun sky

And cross the bay toy boat floats

Measuring absence by days gone; bye

 

Out to sea; a jib beneath the seagull

Where innocence is… lost it circles

Amid time; ebb tide’s maze

As mysteries in the Bermuda triange

 

Like the jumble flotsam jetsam

It’s ne’er really gone

Just gets seasick and lonesome

Amid the limbo it calls home

 

Under stars afar, so from youthfulness

Ocean spray light touch; remembrance

And blues with ivory foam coalesce

The liquid desert, it's vastness and depths to forgiveness

 And so, with it imagination waits

Two parts depart from their selves

One stays, walks the endless shoreline of age

In hopes that winds might return an identity once felt

 

When paper boats does find itself home

Longer shall a man be complete

A reunion; healing the insecure spirit and nomad heart

Welcome what's past by letting go of tragedy

 

Holding the helm a little stronger with...

Confidence, setting a more steady course

Knowing he was ne’er sunk; just had to find the connection

And understand its nature and within himself the confluence source

Reviews

[uNmAsKeD-dEluSiOns]

My mind is really racing and I can't keep up with one thought, this was written so well and really got me thinking...I could imagine every line in my head. I read this a few times to really let the message sink in and I thought this was really brilliant! Vivid descriptions and concepts all tied together to make this great piece. Great work!

[Beccy]

None of us kids mind really. My father is actually quite humorous and I'm sure it's all a bit tongue in cheek when he holds court. Interestingly, he's also a talented poet, as was his mother, but trying to winkle a poem out of his notebooks is like trying to take a glass of water away from a thirsty man. I have a few he's written, but every time I ask him, he tells me he'll leave them to me in his will.

Beccy.

[Beccy]

Yes, as it sounds. MY full name is Rebecca, but Beccy is what most everyone calls me, except for my dad when he is about launch into some kind of lecture on life and its perils and pitfalls. I love it when he does that, he gets all serious and I have to go along with it; even though he knows I'm thinking, 'come on dad, I'm almost forty, isn't it time you accepted I'm ALMOST able to figure a few things out for myself.' :) :) Mind you, it's only because he cares and he does it to all four of us kids, even to my older sister who's a doctor.

Beccy.

[Michael G. Smith]

Yeah, I did that when my kids were younger. I am a little older than but my good wife has helped me to temper down the lectures. I believe when I launched into them my kids were thinking "dad just beat our a*s and get over it".

[Beccy]

I love the reflective, yearning nature of these lines. I think we search the whole of our lives for those connections, and for me the sixth stanza perfectly captured the depth and meaning of your poem.

Beccy.

[Michael G. Smith]

Thanks Beccy. Do you pronounce your name as Becky?

[priya]

Its a soulful poem. The real happiness in life is found when we find happiness in the small things around us. Beautiful it is. :)

[Michael G. Smith]

Thanks, for some of us who lost our innocence too early due to tragedy we have to learn to embrace that part of childhood that is still within us.

[priya]

I agree with you Micheal. It sounds so much like the story of Marie-Ange from THE LEAP OF FAITH by DAnielle Steele.

[Rita L. Sev]

I really love the images you paint here, Mike - especially like this line: "Paper boats melt under a Crayola sun..." Excellent piece.

[Michael G. Smith]

Trying to inject a little innocence into the piece. Thanks Rita.

[audrie]

I really enjoyed these lines and I love the use of metaphores

"To the sea
Where innocence is…
Lost, among time; ebb tide’s maze"


"Under stars far from youthfulness
As ocean spray is foam
Blues with ivory coalesce"

[Michael G. Smith]

I am so glad you did. It is worth every effort when my words can touch down beneath just eyes. Thanks Audrey, for both reading and sending a friend request. I look forward to reading your writings as soon as this afternoon after church.

[Avinash]

I see urge for redemption to rediscover the self back in this soulful poem. It is always about the self; once we are able to make peace with that the happenings of the outer world hardly matter.

[Michael G. Smith]

So true my friend. We have a kinship in our beliefs. I observe some many others in this life who clearly have not learned to love themselves and true happiness eludes them.