My Heart Sails on With My Alaida Alma

My heart sails on with my Alaida Alma.

No sorrow emerged from her conception, carpentry, or christening.

But her masts on the horizon wound me.

She was my own doing, my very own masterpiece.

Viscous lines painted with devotion on thin blue parchment.

Yet, her silhouetted sails quicken my heart’s pace.

Who knows what storms are ahead for her?

What waves will hit her hull? What enemies lie in wait?

Will she hold when she is battered?

--

A long, shaky breath fills my chest.

Where I stay, the once boisterous crowd is no longer bidding good voyage.

I wait, alone, squinting at her quarterdeck.

It was always my sweet Alaida’s destiny.

She was crafted to wander, the most refined traveler I’ve ever formed.

Far as she is, she is a picture of magnificence.

Will my Alaida ever return to me?

Will she find safe passage and glistening shores?

Will she miss me while she’s gone?

--

Her mainmast disappears over the horizon.

My Alaida is off in search of an unknown frontier of fortune.

The ocean has never felt so vast.

Still, I stare, holding on to one last wave of a flag.

The frigid sea and my numb chest are now vacant and abandoned.

My heart sails on with my Alaida Alma.

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