Location: Antigua
Only 90 days ago
We began to write a story
It started far below and away
The horizon we see today
They came as strangers
And stumbled aboard
Full of questions
Afraid to fail
We brought them all into our home
And watched them as they grew
We set our boat upon the sea
The time for looking back was past
The waves and swell would raise us high
And spill our ship back down again
The wind came from behind and howled
Our sails strained and pulled us North
And under moonless skies at night
We bathed in the light of the shimmering dark
All the way they held the helm
Exhausted, sunburnt, confused and sick
The crawled and clung to the leeward side
And emptied despair into the sea
Again and again they stood their watch
All while learning the ocean’s lore
Writing papers and taking tests
Cooking meals for twenty or more
Keeping the boat like a place that was theirs
At long last they saw land
On the first island
Was the tomb of a tyrant
A forest of fairies
The leviathan’s coast
On the next island
There were so many beaches
And so many turtles
And Brazilian food
On Not Devil’s Island
We ran through the ruins
Past all the agoutis
And stayed for a day
And then we came
To a great sea of islands
And spent much of our days
Immersed in the waves
We raced in a regatta
The students led us South
We island hopped our way back North
And hiked and dived and explored ashore
Now we are tied up to a dock
The very dock where I stepped aboard
Before I sailed Argo West
Until we came around again
Bags were packed this morning
A sea of tears was shed
It doesn’t feel like it’s over
But still, this is the end
In 90 days they lived a lifetime
Time at sea is not the same
Back on shore they will have changed
And life will begin like never before
The future lifts its gates for them
And now, they’re not afraid