Journeys (71 of 365)

Day 71 of the 365 day poem challenge.

Word of the day jaunt meaning: "

"a short excursion or journey made for pleasure."

Journeys

While jaunting a familiar cove in my youth 

The men with the villain teeth

And villainous intent 

Came and stole something precious 

It required a journey 

It requires retribution 

There was rape and plunder

It was heedless and forests of

One type or another burnt

However I retreated for a time

To feel cool lichen and moss 

Around my feet 

It tickled in cold places

And the cave into which I was led

Taught and shaped me

I found glow worms dangling 

Idle and in them the haunting memory that had forced my hand

On this voyage

I returned from this cave and my love was the sea

It's often violent unpredictable nature 

And my love was by the sea

And they engulfed me and I hungered and basked in sunshine

And on gentle nourishing shores

And I started to forget the purpose

Of journeys and of good and evil

I forgot all about villains in that

Warm embrace and the sense

Of comfort in two beings drawn so close

It seemed my journey was ended

And fancies of youth of rebellion

Of courage and of crossing 

Tall mountains and riding Rapids

It was behind me

I settled down but the nourishing 

Sand turned dry and it was scarring

On my scaly skin and I grew internal sores though I could not see them

A child ran among my legs and the face of my love grew long and

Age did not become my loves countenance 

Another child follows and a predictable path is sewn

Surprise and wonder became metaphors for the trail set before us

Wrinkled and lost 

The world was a desert that turned cold at night 

There was little hope

But the end of the line was approaching

And so that became the goal 

To shuttle up into tortoise shells

To feed and reproach risk 

To forsake the journeys and seas

To avoid any sharks 

There were no villains save those

In my senile mind and between the senile folds of my senile skin 

I recalled the many choices

That led me here so blind

To all else 

I considered the villain and the allure

To hunt and suppose oneself superior to another

To assert ones morals upon another

To be cruel 

To be harsh 

To be apathetic 

I lay then and awaited the final

Coaxing shut of my eyes

My journey would soon be ended.