She is preparing to set sail,

not on the next tide, but soon.

She has become seaworthy,

friendly airs waft about her

puckering and billowing and

all she awaits is a fuller moon

before casting off caution.

Then she will be gone, one more life

seizing its right to sink or swim

on higher seas beyond homely

shores. And so all is as it should be

including the eternal ache

of being a father travelling

in the opposite direction.