Wonderment (Fiction) Poem by Curtis Johnson

A SHIP NAME WONDERMENT (Fiction)
By Curtis Johnson, Sr.

On the East side of the Bay as I walked along the cargo port area near the San Francisco Bay, I watched the ships coming and going in the Bay and under the Big Bay Bridge. I also observed other ships from the Far East and around the world as they sailed through the Golden Gate under the Golden Gate Bridge.

It was a beautiful day just past noon and the heavy fog had lifted. I came upon the most beautiful and stunning site of a huge ship. It was a masterpiece, a man made marvel in craftsmanship. This ship had given its services with multiple voyages out to sea from port to port around the world. But now this masterful water vessel was no longer needed. It sat there as if it were lonely and abandoned.

When I saw it in its breath taking splendor, I immediately fell in love with it. But I thought that it was such a waste for a ship like that to be sitting when everything about that ship said, “I long to be out to sea”. What made it all the more sad was the fact that I already had my own ship, and I also really wanted this one too. It appeared to be a dream ship.

I then felt that if I even considered abandoning my own ship, it would surely be a sin. But to be mesmerized by this docked ship was more than I could take. In the real world, I concluded that there was nothing that I could do. However, in my imagination I could take this ship and sail away to sea.

So in my imagination, I purchased this ‘wonder on the waters’ and became the pilot of this retired ship. I renamed it “Wonderment”.

I boarded “wonderment” and in due time we set sail to sea, not knowing where in this world we would come to rest. I was not forsaking my own ship, but some how I felt that I could satisfy some of the sea longings of “Wonderment” as well as some of my own desires of fulfilling yet unfinished dreams. It appeared that I still had inside of me a sense of need for renewal and fresh adventure.

So I took my newly purchased ship far out to sea. I thought that perhaps at some point at some port, I would find another ship lover who would love “Wonderment” as much as I did, and give it all the care and attention that it deserved and needed.

Days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months, but I was determined to fine a new home for “Wonderment”. Of course “Wonderment” was an inanimate vessel. But during this period of longing and searching, it was as if I and “Wonderment” had become Forever Friends.

And so it was that after eight long months, I found a new owner for my new found friend. I tell you, I was both sad and happy for “Wonderment”. I was extremely happy that I had found someone to appreciate this great ship’s beauty and under utilized abilities. But I was more than a little sad because I could not make “Wonderment” a ship of my very own. With teary eyes as I watched “Wonderment” sail away into a brave new world of its very own, I waved goodbye to my Forever Friend. I didn’t know that I would ever see “Wonderment” again. But without a doubt, I knew that in my heart and in my mind, “Wonderment” would forever be an intricate part of me.

Cj052908 4: 41 PM PT