My Ship Poem by Olusegun Akanbi

I have a ship.
A beautiful ship!
Big and brown
With white sails and a mast that touches the sky from ground.
With a dock that could hold ten thousand sailors
As they work
Yet I am not the captain of my ship
My ship captains me

I have a ship
A beautiful ship
I named her Olivia
After my uncle’s wife
She was a good woman
Who lived a virtuous life
My ship rocks me back and forth like a chair
When I am in despair
Then I lie in the gentle arms of Morpheus
It is obvious
I was asleep
My ship whispers into my ears
My son it is well
Or was it the wind?
I cannot tell
I observed the night skies
With my naked eyes
While sitting on the deck of my ship
And each star tells a different story
Some of the fall of men
And others of their glory

I have a ship
Though I am not her captain
And every voyage I take
I get younger for certain
As if I was baptized in the Youth’s fountain
On my way back
I stumbled on a giant named Jack
Who threatened to destroy my ship!
But he could not
We fought
And his might could not match mine
As he thought

I have a ship
An enchanted ship
That can grant men what their heart desires
An immortal ship that cannot be destroyed by fire
Except she burns herself
In a funeral pyre
To make way for a younger and newer ship
My ship thinks and feel like a man
Even bust into laughter
When I tell her a story about Peter Pan
A young man who refuses to grow
Flies like a sparrow
And crows

I have a ship
A beautiful ship
Sometimes I feel I am not the captain of my ship
My ship is flung around by the tempest at sea
My ship says to me
Just let it be
Soon the angry waves will abate
You just have to wait
For in destiny lies
Destiny’s eyes
Which knows and control the fates of men
And then
Sometimes I know
I am not the captain of my ship
I work hard but money starts to slip
With plans made and prayers prayed
I know I will be the captain of my ship