Harboring

Memories are boats
anchored, idle,
awaiting calm –

quaint ideals
keep them docked,
undermine progress

never intended to harbour
so many secrets –
lack a personal compass

reliable enough
to navigate solo –
a necessary tactic

to release these boats
cluttering my
story’s shoreline.

(Written for dVerse, whose host Lillian challenges us to write a quadrille (44 words) around the theme: harbour.  Hats off to the daily prompts from Ragtag Community: quaint, Fandango: personal, and Daily Addictions: solo. Image from personal collection.)

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VJ

Permission to write, paint, and imagine are the gifts I gave myself when chronic illness hit - a fair exchange: being for doing. Relevance is an attitude. Humour essential.

38 thoughts on “Harboring”

  1. “To navigate solo”…so true, we’re on our own with all of the things that clutter our lives and minds. We are the only ones who can move them along, let them go and be the more content for it. I really enjoyed your Quadrille and your take on the word.
    Gayle

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  4. Memories are boats
    anchored, idle,
    how true – they have nowhere to go or place to be, especially if we can’t share them with anyone anymore
    love all the metaphors you link with the harbour and the sea

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  5. I love that metaphor, V.J.: memories as boats and the thought of releasing them is very calming. I especially like the lines:
    ‘lack a personal compass

    reliable enough
    to navigate solo’.

    Liked by 1 person

  11. Memories as boats is a lovely metaphor; I also liked the idea of clearing the shoreline and letting these memories go. If only it was easier to do so, but perhaps with practice and patience, it can be done. Wise words! 🙂
    -HA

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  15. Release those boats for sure–your metaphor is wonderful. My disability has me letting go and giving away things. After the initial shock, I feel liberated, thinner.

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  17. Well done! A personal compass … a necessity in today’s turbulent world. Release the memories that eat at us….do not ruminate. The old baggage can indeed clutter our shorelines….I’m reminded me of the title of Senator Ted Kennedy’s memoir, completed shortly before his death. He loved to sail. The name of his memoire was True Compass.

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