Lost at Sea

your gut knows there is something better –
it drives you through the storm
of fierce currents which war for your heart’s allegiance.
your fickle compass changes its mind
with the hummingbird heartbeat of your wishful heading,
too recklessly dissatisfied to settle into steadfast hope.
you leave your wake stretching out behind you –
billowing waves of disappointing self-sufficiency
which resolutely linger, like scars left rippling on the surface:
your mapped history of inadequate destinations,
conquered and abandoned.
your shipwrecked life boasts no other captain
but the defensive dignity inside your own soul.
spiced winds and self-borne remedies
deceitfully drive you deeper into uncharted seas,
as you relentlessly search for uncatchable shadows of noble progress.
sinking scepters fall from your wreckage –
through fields of seaweed they sparkle,
and then mournfully fade into the depths.
what glory and contentedness might have been yours.
and yet, they are not lost.
stop kneeling to drink at thirst-breeding waters,
stop seeking your home at open sea.
your life is waiting on a far-off hillside –
on the firm ground paid for by another Man.
He offers the deed freely.
oh, man, relinquish your grasp of the helm,
submit to a Captain who knows the way Home.

the lighthouse ever beckons on the shore.