Voyaging

First kiss, like the sun rising
opens a light over lands made new;
We send our ships across the seas between us
We claim each other at a trembling verge.

Finding my way to your fragrant isle,
Sweet musky mysteries draw me from afar;
Shall I stumble ashore to wander in your forests?
Shall I plant my staff with a roar?

Danger and treasure, mingled and waiting;
So it ever is when we seek the unknown.
But remember this; the gods made us explorers!
We were never meant to bide at home.

First kiss, like the sun rising;
Could be we'll founder on uncharted shores.
But better we'll be if we sailed in vain
than never to have sailed at all.

(25 June 1999)

I tried to write this in anapestic tetrameter, but it kept breaking out in spondees. Eventually I gave up and let speech rhythm have its way with the prosody.