Afloat by Tom Sharp

I don’t know how I embarked, but surely the tide and wind, across epic expanses, are taking me to a fair shore. No captain studies my compass; no sailor adjusts my sails. My lines swing, masts sway, timbers seem frail, but I seem to stay afloat. I boarded on a river, but rivers descend to seas, and seas to universes of creatures and conditions that I hesitate to describe. Birds call. Maelstroms sigh. Fish fly. Dreams awaken me over underwater reefs, through precipitous islands. Bizarre creatures rise to breath in electric waves. Tentacles and deliriums amaze me. Other ships have their purposes—trade or exploration. My purpose is to discover my purpose.

Le Bateau ivre by Arthur Rimbaud

I don’t know how I embarked, but surely the tide and wind, across epic expanses, take me to a fair shore. No captain studies my compass; no sailor adjusts my sails. My lines swing, masts sway; my timbers seem frail, but I seem to stay afloat. I boarded on a river, but rivers descend to seas, and seas to universes of creatures and conditions that I hesitate to describe. Birds call. Maelstroms sigh. Fish fly. Dreams awaken me over underwater reefs, through precipitous islands. Bizarre creatures rise to breath in electric waves. Tentacles and deliriums amaze me. Other ships have their purposes—trade or exploration. My purpose is to discover my purpose.