The Compass

There once was a sailor who sailed the seas,
And endured many storms with grace and ease
And the sailor’s wisdom was hard earned
For the lesson were all from error learned.

One day their ship came into a port
The captain took a new hand for the navigational work
The brown haired boy seemed young and unsure
And the older sailor his company endured.

The storm came suddenly from out of sight,
The waves were like mountains, the wind blew with its might
The warm tropical rains drenched them to the bone,
Then said the sailor as they felt lost and alone.

“Now listen lad, hold fast and don’t fear.
For in weather like this many opinions you’ll hear,
Some to go this way and some to go there,
‘Seek the safety of this isle’ or ‘the comfort right here’.

But I know these seas, like the back of me hand,
And there’s no port better than in my homeland,
It’s as dear to me as my own dear sister,
And I’ve missed it almost as much as I’ve missed her.”

But the ship’s captain was of another mind,
“There’s shoals in these waters, another way we must find!
For the only safe passage is to the far south,
And there is a bay at the river’s mouth.”

“But in this storm wit it’s inky cloud cover,
We can’t see the stars, we must go to the other!”
The sailor called from the wisdom so true,
And the lad, the navigator, knew not what to do.

“Listen lad! You know I am wise,
And if stars there were I could read the skies!
But they are covered by the clouds of the storm,
So go to my land,” the sailor warned.

“Boy you know what course I have planned,
And if you follow it we shan’t be unmanned,
But fear not when the storm block the skies,
For I gave you something they can’t see with their eyes.”

And at the captain’s words, the lad did recall,
He would never be lost for he had something so small,
A metal circle that hung over his heart,
The captain had given with the navigational chart.

“We shall sail south for the Captains says so,
And my compass as well points to it, I know.
And sorry I am, dear sailor wise and true
For I have made my decision, but will always respect you.”

Now this doth drip deep with much allegory,
But only the wise can perceive the hidden story.