by Houston Arledge

Call me Ishmael
Borne by vagrant waves
Neither desired nor sought
But taken either way
As last resort
Before men laugh
In the face of God

Call me Ishmael
Promised a future by God
Though not a covenant fulfilled
Yet, cursed and cast away
As I am by man
He blessed me to be a partaker still
Ransomed by and from the wreckage
Of the ship on which I set sail

Call me Ishmael
Afloat on a scrap piece
Perhaps the planks of the Pequod’s
Remnants may be life rafts
To wayward travelers following after me
As numerous as the grains of sand
For providence placed by the sea

Call me Ishmael

Houston Arledge is a seminarian, college minister, poet, digital artist and coffee enthusiast from Denton, Texas.

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