Fisherman Ashore

by Donald S Murray

Strolling down the streets of his hometown,
there were times life reeled
round him more
than it had ever done at sea.

He longed for maps and charts,
to assist him in defining
the topography of avenues and thoroughfares
he travelled down unsteadily

as storms rolled out to bowl him over.
A foghorn, too, that could assist
him to find his way
through the mist of life’s confusions.

But most of all that light
helping him to define
what were risks and hazards
and what was just illusion,

all these things that had been plainer
on the bridge and decks of boats
he’d occupied for decades,
keel protecting and preserving him,

keeping him afloat.