missing the boat

Came across another poem – this one made me laugh – and want to cry at the same time.

Reminds me of the word I came across yesterday and had some fun with on FB: hebetude meaning mental lethargy or dullness. Simply put, it’s not getting it. The lights are on but nobody’s home; our brain is out to lunch. In a battle of wits we are woefully unarmed at the moment. That sort of thing.

This is a poem that wakes me up – makes me wonder just what it is I might be missing not so much because my eyes are closed but because they are focused on all the wrong things. And you know what Jesus says about those who say they see, those who think they are already in sync with God and life, and so they are doing just fine, thank you very much, and can I ever show you a thing or two…

Reminds me of the line from Ecclesiastes, most memorably impressed on me through the Message some years ago:

Yes, there's a right time and way for everything, even though, unfortunately, we miss it for the most part. It's true that no one knows what's going to happen, or when. Who's around to tell us? Ecclesiastes 8:6-7

Anyway, here’s the poem from Naomi Shihab Nye – born in 1952 to a Palestinian father and an American mother. She’s new to me – I’m going to seek out more of her work…

Missing the Boat
by Naomi Shihab Nye

It is not so much that the boat passed and you failed to notice it.
It is more like the boat stopping directly outside your bedroom window,
The captain blowing the signal horn, the band playing a rousing march.
The boat shouted, waving bright flags, its silver hull blinding in the sunlight.

But you had this idea you were going by train.
You kept checking the time table,
Digging for tracks.
And the boat got tired of you,
so tired it pulled up the anchor and raised the ramp.

The boat bobbing into the distance, shrinking like a toy -
At which point you probably realized you had always loved the sea.