Mothership

freighted

with a life

you sailed 

into the bay

trusting

safe from harm

to bring it

shoreward:

boarded 

in the night

rechristened

(mother, wife)

you had

to find a way

to carry forward:

marooned

by that rough arm

the held you

til the light

you learned

the shifting tides

and kept to leeward:

the gifts

hid in your hold

you laid

upon the land

and sought

a helping hand

to be their steward:

'tis eighty

years and more

since you

laid down your store

and gave

the world the goods

you had been stowing:

and twenty

since you left

your hull

and spars bereft

and sailed

above the winds

beyond our knowing:

we know

now that a name

could never 

fitly frame

the presence

that you poured

into our history:

and so

we thankful bow

before

what we allow

is mystery