sail your boat girl...

i sat spellbound at her feet,
listening to tales she wove
as only a storyteller could...
her hair was silver white,
her eyes wise and brimming
with a love real and profound...
as old as old could be...and then,
older...
she looked at the little girl in me
and smiled a knowing smile...
"sail your boat, girl",
she whispered, for only my ears to hear...
"live your story...sing your songs and never,
never hide yourself behind your pain...
your pain and your fears are tools,
yours to be used, never let them use you...
you have a voyage before you and this voyage
will be smooth and graceful as well as hard
and perilous...
but sail you must and sail you will
for your Spirit would have it no other way..."
i gathered myself then, breathed deep and for a moment...
just a moment that seemed, a lifetime...
i smelled the salty air and felt a freedom beyond reason...
and then...
i sailed...