Poem: "Riding the Startides"

[ysabetwordsmith]

This poem comes from the May 5, 2009 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by prompts from mtrose2 and marina_bonomi, and sponsored by janetmiles.

Riding the Startides

What do you do
when you have sailed
between the stars for so long
that even the light seems tired?

What do you do
when every alien world
is the same in your eyes,
and neither double suns
nor triple moons
are amazing anymore?

What do you do
when you’ve forgotten
how to be excited
by traveling faster than light,
so that even the impossible
has become ordinary,
has become boring?

Then you turn around
and head for home
where you find
that time’s river
has changed the shifting sands
and all things old
are new again -

for home has gone on without you
and remade itself,
full of fresh discoveries
like a broad beach
after the morning tide has gone out.

Go home,
old star-sailor,
and rinse away your memories
with the shallow seas of Terra;
in the place that gave you birth
you will be reborn.