Runes

As a result of Jennifer's initial urging and daily inspiration, we are taking advantage of our time in Cairns to work out at the local gym on a daily basis -- cardio on the treadmills and ellipticals, weights, stretching, and more stretching. Sailing does many things for the soul, but, especially on a catamaran, it does not flex the proverbial muscles, nor does it require a lot of stamina. We arrived after 12 months at sea feeling a bit loose around the edges. There's also a swimming pool, so Jennifer gets her 1/2 mile swim in, and she's feeling back in fine form.

We've also had the chance to make a few visits to the doctors and dentists, taking care of some of the routine health matters that accumulate as one drifts across ocean waters and isolated islands. All is well for each of us thankfully, but it did get me thinking about the aging process. As good as I feel, I do notice that I'm getting older in body and -- perhaps I'm wrong here, wiser in mind, as if there was a yin and yang to these two trends. If so, I'm happy for it: perspective, resilience, discernment -- I'm happy trading some creaky joints and loose skin for these traits.

I've tried to capture this below, in a new poem, titled Runes. In it, I tried to have each line read logically as a stand-alone line, even as they connect to form a larger image, the whole being greater than the sum of our parts, as it were.

Runes

This body is starting to leave me

alone I can feel my skin begin to pull away

slowly my muscles sag and discs compress

together these arms and legs will not move

quickly memories accumulate then disappear

into fog they come and go unlike these scars

echoing reminders of accidents and words

hardly taken for granted instead becoming

runes that tell the story of this departing body

recalling oh so many blemishes and mishaps

shedding like compost to fill a garden

savory with the loam of a roughly-tended body

leaving me at peace with what remains.