My Rules for Sailing

Always I fight to restrain expectations

For dreams are so easily drowned

Not every ship can survive in the open

And not all safe harbors are found

Often I’m angered by selfish behavior

Wrecking the world in its wake

Often I’ve wanted to keel-haul the guilty

Compelling the dreaming to wake

Sometimes I settle for what I’ve been given

And sometimes I set off for more

Sometimes I help others weather their tempests

And sometimes their pleas I ignore

Seldom the world offers kindly attention

And seldom it leaves me surprised

For ignorance showers our every encounter

And sorrow is seldom disguised

Never have I on the tailwinds of others

Expected to profit or thrive

Never will I overstate my achievements

And never will I have “arrived”