Essential Pursuit


The sailor loves the uncluttered sea
Where a cloud is a cloud and a wave is a wave
And nothing bears a brand

The world ashore is swamped in slogans
Bursting with devices that permeate the mind
The sailor will not be reaped by this wily circus
He will not be festooned in logos
He is nobody’s billboard

Few follow the sailor simple way
Most become earthies

Too laden to climb aboard
Earthies while their days adrift on stagnant shores
Ground senseless between the job and the shop
As their life drifts away

Earthies roam the malls
Like dazed cattle in an endless corral
Ever searching for a toy or a thrill
To dull their sense of a stunted life

Earthies toil to shop
Sailors work to live
Earthies bury their minds in trivial pursuits

Essential Pursuit
Is the sailor’s game