navigator


Drop sail and point the bow to blue horizons.
Lift anchor, turn the rudder,
Stand aboard and stay afloat
This eager ship, this vessel of dreams,
Bring full speed to cut the salty waves,
A swift pace to leave behind coastal fears.

We have gone too far worrying what might happen,
We have wasted too many nights doubting how we'll get there,
We will sever the ties with our births—
homelands filled of tire swings, woodland ponds,
super-soakers, paper airplanes, mom's pasta dinners,
our neighbors' swimming pool,
our best friends' brand new ten-speed.

We can forget our first kisses
hidden behind our favorite oak trees,
next to the tall grass of unkempt soccer fields,
with the Jennifers, the Michelles, and the Ashleys
It will not be our last taste—
We will always have that nervous joy.

Ignore detention slips, Mrs. Hill's math homework,
the 6th grade bully that swiped our milk money,
the gym teacher's sex talk, our brothers' popularity,
our sisters' title as "princess of the family".
They are all inaccurate.

Let us cast away toward triumph,
to the undiscovered talents we possess.
Let us head unknowing,
so we can carve out the clouds into what we desire,
so we can smash the wind on our face;
drying out our eyes and dream.



Mel Catalan