With perfect hindsight he sees now the anchor,

Dropped noiselessly into the clear blue sea.

Shooting to the ocean floor,

Plunging into the timeless sand.



The limitless tether exerts no pull, no tug

On the small boat which drifts with the tide.

Year after year the boy within builds the sails,

Learns the harmony of winds and currents.



In port after port, beauty and pain become his shipmates.

Sailing on, until one day the man remaining

Feels the pull---then turns....

To peer across the charted waters.



The anchor holds fast-- heavy, unmoving, uncaring.

Dropped on the day of his birth, it remains implacable.

With tear-filled eyes he squints to glimpse the distant shore,

Then slips noiselessly into the clear blue sea.