Another piece I wrote last year. I found it the other day and fixed up a few things, but I still have the mad urge to go through and edit the entire thing, changing and improving as I go. Who knows, maybe Iwill,one day.
You know the drill - read, review, and all that funky stuff.
Disclaimer: This work is based on characters and situations that, alas, I do not own. I'm not making any money off of this, and no copyright infringement is intended, so no suing, please. This piece of writing, however, is mine, so don't take it without my permission, etc.
Carpe Diem
The waves gently crashed over each other, breaking pace only as they hit the hull of the ship. The wind slowly swept over the deck, and between the sails, not yet unfurled, then back into the great expanse above the open sea. It seemed to stretch on endlessly for the Captain. Eventually, he knew, if one sailed far enough, land would be spotted on the horizon, and the illusion of forever would end... but it was certainly nice while it lasted - the feeling of freedom from the everyday rush of the people in the towns, freedom from the walls of society. In the towns and cities, each day would start and end, and always be relatively the same. The sun would rise, cocks would crow, church bells would ring, and the people would begin their lives in the same pattern, the same formation as the day before.
The sea, though... out at sea, things were different. It was one of the things that the Captain loved about the sea, because each day when the sun rose, you could be sure of a different adventure. Sometimes, even, the sun wouldn't rise. It could storm for days on end out at sea, and darkness would reign, broken not by the sun on the horizon, but the lighting from the storm clouds above. Time would pass, and by the end of it, not a soul on the ship could tell day from night; each had merged into the other.
Out on the ocean, thought the Captain, you can never trust anything. You take what comes when it comes, never mind what should or shouldn't happen. The spontaneity of life at sea enthralled the Captain. Life was never boring, never ordinary, not once usual, and the Captain loved every bit of it. One day after another and things would never stay the same. One would never have to lead a humdrum life, stuck in the same place for eternity. On a ship, thought the Captain, you have freedom: freedom to be halfway to anywhere by the time anyone would take notice; to be able to sail toward the horizon, trying to reach the unreachable, thriving for the thrill of it all...
Now that, thought the Captain to himself, is the only real way to live.
Completed August 10, 2004
Edited July 30, 2005