I see everyone rushing—
Rushing, tripping, running.
Running for the boat
Which threatens to depart any time.
Boat of ambition, boat of desire
Boat to another, bigger boat.
And then to another.
Boat after boat.
Never reaching shore.
But threatening to depart any time.
Some stop and say,
“Hurry, hurry, hurry! Aren’t you going to go?
Time’s running out:
The boats will depart any time!”
I smile, stand aside and make way.
I bide my time
Looking at the water
Looking at the sky
Looking at the flowers on the shore
Looking at the people passing by
Looking at the boats.
Looking at the boats to the boats
To the boats, to the boats.
2013
This poem haunts me! To my thought, it’s genius. Captures modern life perfectly, especially as exemplified by social media.
You are too kind, Gary. I was simply trying to portray my own experience in life. My friends, relations all rushing ahead while I idle and bide time. I was rushing for the boats too, once. My perspective changed after 2007 when I thought I only had a short time to live. But it’s a different story and probably not appropriate here.
How can your own story not be appropriate on your own blog? Especially when it underlies this exquisite poem! My vote would be that you share it.
By the way, sorry I missed this reply earlier, so am excessively late in responding. As noted before, I’ve stopped getting notifications from your website when anyone (including you) posts something in a comment thread to which I’ve subscribed. I understand how it may not worth troubleshooting, especially since you envision a near-future change of platform. I’m trying in the meanwhile to check back manually, but don’t always manage in timely fashion.
The story has to do with a sudden illness in 2007. Yes, this is my blog but I don’t think that is not something I’d like to share publicly. I think all I can say is, at one point I was left wondering if I had weeks or months or years left. It made me wonder how I have not used my time properly chasing a career that I didn’t even want in the first place.