How clear to you
is your path to the sacred?

For some it comes
on a Sunday morning
in a sunlit pew.

For many of us
it's an ocean voyage more obscure,
with a sense of the sadness
of the long sea that pilgrims sail,
not clear and calm,
but a battle with bruising waves,
while we strain at the tiller,
holding to hope while wearying waves
batter strained hearts
and eyes sting
from staring long nights
into salt spray…

Familiar faith?
Of the stomach-churning swells of uncertainty?
Which journey has chosen you?

Text and image © 2012 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.