In May, 2001, Dona submitted this poem. - poetheart 12/30/01
We sail through the night on a lonely ocean
The moon and the stars as our only guide
A heavenly map of the constellations
We drift in and out with the shifting tide
The wind blows and fills our sails above
And pushes us onward toward the shore
We hear the rush of its awesome power
As the waves rush in with a mighty roar
To break apart on the rocky shoals
And run a mad race to the ivory sands
Where once washed up a wrecked ship's souls
Whose lives were spent as their Captain's hands
These brave men sailed for the love of sailing
They sailed for a dollar and a jug of rum
For a chance to lay into port for a season
And to brawl and to drink till the morning'd come
When they'd stagger back, to be off again
With tales of the women that they had kissed
Till one dark night, as a storm blew in
And the lighthouse warning they somehow missed
The ship came on with no deadly fear
Save in the old Captain's wildly beating heart
A raging sea threw the ship too near
Till the angry rocks tore the ship apart
Then the hungry waves swallowed every man
And sent him to rest in the final port
In the haven of souls where we all shall sleep
In the harbor of rest and the place of ease
With a beacon of light across the deep--
To guide us home on a ship of mercy--
His lighthouse that keeps us in perfect peace.
by Dona Lou Pearson