The Long Voyage Poem by Sharad Rajimwale

The boat is slowly being pushed to the shore

The voyage has been long....storms, gales and tides
buffeted it since it was launched.
It braved all kinds of weather.
One by one all the passengers stepped out of it
to land at different ports of call, and left it.

The empty boat sailed on
floating amid turbulence, driven by eddies of winds
for the boatman had become tired and could barely steer it.
He closed his heavy eyes

Past voyages came rushing in jumbled sequences.
He smiled to himself- - a tired, faint light lit up his face

The boat was heading towards a shore,
not previously marked- -

A lonely coast, vast, desolate, sun-bleached,
littered with all the discarded things of nature, a land of dead birds and fish, cast out shells, crumbling bones, jetsam and scattered debris. An ideal place, thought the boatman
as the winds danced around his ears and swooped
down towards the coast.

The boat veered around- - -
"The coast, the coast"! his spirit cried.

And he fell on his back
eyes closed, while the weather beaten vessel
tottered on the waves
quite close to the vacant shores.
by Sharad Rajimwale
Jodhpur, India