Voyage of the heart and mind

The Heart and the Mind

Are powers entwined

In the vessel of the soul

Both at the oars

Aimed at far shores

To reach the self-same goal

Though, at the start,

They seek a clear mark

They oft' waver from their course

For the sailors here

So quickly veer

When, their own way, they enforce

They insist, you see

To sit peculiarly

In opposite-facing fashion

And each with an oar

They try for the shore

In such incompatible action

For to row with one oar

Fixed to the ship board

Will cause it to turn to one side

So they paddle a bit

Grow weary, then quit

And hope to drift in with the tide

While the one facing shore

Starts to slumber and snore

His mate wakes to desolate sea

"We've drifted off course!"

Comes his panicked report

And rows to behold the shore's trees

As you can tell

This does not bode well

For the ship to arrive where it yearns

It merely rotates

When a sailor awakes

And the bow trades its place with the stern

Yet once and a while

With their tempers riled

Both sailors are awake and intend

To contrive a way

To sail through the bay

Reaching land and long journey's end

"I have it this time!"

So shouts the Mind

"Let me row from now on,

I know the maps

Of the safest pass

We'll be there before long."

"Nay let me

Our captain be!"

Quoth the Heart in passioned reply,

"I know and I feel

That the wind has revealed

The way to traverse beneath its sky."

"Leave thy feelings behind!"

Retorts the Mind

Between heavy strokes of the oar,

"They shift and they change

And oft' rearrange

To be not what they were before."

"Your map lines are dead!"

The nettled Heart says

Who begins to heave and to row

"They know not of the wind

Or the storms we've been in

For they were drawn so long ago"

With more indignations

And self-justifications

The sailors continue to fight

And the oars they put in

Make their ship spin

An endless circle through day and night

Their battle will last

With no peace to pass

For both Heart and Mind are stubborn

Yet here between

To disrupt the scene

Comes at last a power to govern

The boat that spins

And the sailors within

Forsake all save their will and their pride

They see not the clouds

The enveloping shroud

Or the flashes that shatter the sky

The rain and the waves

Now lifts and staves

The blindness that hides our ships' fate

The spinning is ceased

As the oars are released

But now it is much too late

For all around

A clamorous sound

As the storm unleashes its rage

And the sea beneath

Here earns its keep

As a force of untamable gauge

A torrent of blows

From above and below

Assail the humble vessel

Whose crumpling frame

Is not meant to sustain

The war between ocean and metal

Great waves burst forth

As an army of sorts

Like mountains in rapid succession

With increasing might

And likewise in height

Chaos in ordered procession

And then comes a crest

A wave at its best

That heaves the boat up to the sky

Then with a rush

And strong downward thrust

The wind hurls it back down in reply

When it finally lands

In the angry sea's hands

They close in for damage and pain

For their final act

To undo the intact

Rips the vessel in twain

With destruction complete

The tempest retreats

As the night begins stealing away

The torrential downpour

Soon is no more

The last rain drops greeting the day

Now we find

Our Heart and our Mind

In the wake of their trial and woe

Battered and weathered

And no longer tethered

Giving thought of which way to go

"At last!" they now cry

"No more shall I try

To muddle my plans with thee!

Our boat is now split

I am free to commit

To myself and my own strategy!"

So the Heart grabs the oar

And looks for the shore

While the Mind does the same

They paddle and row

But nowhere do they go

In each place, their boat-halves remain

Each sailor assesses

Their respective messes

And frantically come to conclude

The Mind's torn raft

Is sinking and fast

While on a sea-rock, the Heart is marooned

"I fear we shall die!"

Declares the Mind,

"I in this water and thou on thy perch"

Resounds the Heart,

"With our ship apart

Here shall we end along with our search"

"Had I any wind motion,

I'd sail through this ocean

Too swiftly for my boat to sink."

The Mind thought aloud

Who was nearly half-drowned

Slowly submerging into the drink

"And if I had a map,

Of all these rock traps

I'd have the surest of navigation."

The Heart did reply

Between sobs and cries,

"But here I find my expiration"

A thing happens here

Amid madness and fear

That is not quickly explained

The waves and the wind

Once more enter in

But now for a gentl'r campaign

The water and air

Find the Heart there

And wash him down from the mound

They reach for the Mind

From under the brine

And to the surface again he is found

The two sailors float

Toward the other's half-boat

And, in truth, know not what to say

They think and they feel

On things suddenly real

And marvel how they came to this day

Sudden joyful tears

Dispel all their fears

With an embrace, they agree as friends

That the Master of these,

Sky, storm, and sea

Undertook their severance to mend

"Put your arm in mine,"

The Heart says to the Mind

"Hold fast, that our ship cleft be sealed"

With these instructions done

The ship halves acts as one

And a second purpose is revealed

"Aye!" the Mind claims

"We have fixed our aim,

For now we sit with the same orientation!

Take the oar in your grasp

And whether slowly or fast

Let us makes strokes in synchronization"

The sailors then find

With like-heart and like-mind

Their going is buoyant and straight

Yet one more question

A lingering perplexion

Is all that remains for debate

"Where is the shore?

It was there before!"

They ask aloud and in sync

For the storm had tossed

And carried them off

Much farther than one would think

The Mind looks down

Then all around

And spying the searock, gives it some starings

"I know this feature,

The map was my teacher.

From this I can surmise our bearings"

The Heart, for a while

With a tranquil smile

Listens, then slowly delivers,

"I feel this air

Salt-laden and fair

Whose winds are true guidance-givers"

Thus, a new start

For the Mind and the Heart

A pairing of wondrous strength

One hand to row

The other to know

A friend of lifelong length

Like a brother and sister

Although they may differ

Their bond is a symbiotic one

Whether storms or calm seas

Map lines or wind breeze

The life of one to the other is done