Bowen Island Ferry

To travel between worlds
I take a ferry
From the big smoke
To a small Island
Then back again

Landing on an Island
Is always like
The quiet moment alone
In the living room
Just as the fridge turns off

Abandoned

Abandoned
This old derelict building
And I

Two hundred kilometers
Away from
Anywhere

Nothing but gravel, rock
A winding strip of bitumen
And heat

Crisp, chill air
Flames singe the night
Cinders crackle
Sparks rise
Filling starry sky

Notes issue
In gentle arpeggio
Strings plucked
And strummed

There is a magic
To movement
Through the waters
Of a narrow channel
Banked by mountains
And Islands
In the gathering darkness

Travel takes me
To places I could never imagine
Experiences I could never dream
Worlds which seem alien

So I stay
Experience all I can
Give reign to imagination
Until the alien seems mundane

The truth is
I’ve rarely discovered
My own limits

Walls
Real and perceived
Have two sides

The one I’m on
The one I’m not

It is a rare wall
Which cannot be defeated
Which allows no means
To the other side

The fireflies
In the bottle by
My bed at night
Twinkle like
The stars outside

They power dreams
Of boyhood flight
To other worlds
Beyond the stars

Sometimes, the fire
It burns too hot
Can’t douse the flames
Can’t put it out

I walk away
And let it burn
It follows me
Burns up the world

But if I stay
And let it burn
It burns away
The fuel it’s fed

I wish I was
A bigger man
A brighter heart
A gentler hand

But every time
I find a wall
Which limits me
And makes me small

I push it back
A little way
Become a bigger
Man that day

The power, grace and majesty
Of the sea
Reminds me

Who I am
What I was always
Meant to be