Harborless

A Poem by David C. Roberson

Harborless is about what happens after you’ve weathered so many storms you stop believing in safe places altogether. No anchor holds, no land sustains—and you’re starting think it might be your fault. So you just keep drifting because it’s the only thing left that makes any damn sense.

Harborless
11/09/2006
by David C. Roberson

The gentle day was ending 
as she walked upon the path
while I sat there in silence
wonderin' where I was at.
She said, “Hello!”, I startled
back to reality.
I turned my body towards her,
gave an old-fashioned, “Howdy!”

My mind’s a panicked jumble
when she’s so plainly near,
and I wish that there was some way 
for her to see or hear
that I am not myself but some 
strange shadow of a man
like a pirate who so long at sea 
has finally spotted land.

Oh, I've spotted swollen, rotten wood 
and clods of sinking dirt. 
I tried to stand on them at times, 
but I’ve always gotten hurt.
Every shore I trusted crumbled,
each foothold turned to pain,
so I learned to drift forever,
bound to water, loss and rain.

This land before me now is bright
with beauty, rich and green!
Full of life I’ve never touched,
like no place I’ve ever seen!
But if I stepped upon that ground,
storms clouds would twist and swirl!
The green things would all turn to brown
and tender leaves would curl!

But her smile was so inviting,
we lingered in embrace,
while I hid the quiet sorrow
settled deep within my face.
She could never know
my weight of loss
or all the storms I heeded,
nor the kind of love
A putrid pirate like me needed.

So I stayed far from the shoreline,
knowing I could never land,
watching something pure and living
slip slowly from my hand.
For some men are made for harbor,
safe, steady, warm, and true,
and some are cursed to sail forever
knowing land was never theirs to choose.