Sailors Never Go to Sea Alone | Mehrab Ramezani

****Sailors never go to sea alone

A) Imagine the sea as a shapeless world.

* Half of the sea has burned in fire, and half has sunk in water.

** The wave, at the line where fire and water meet, recognizes the piece of the boat’s wood.

B) Picture the shore, covered entirely in a vast mirror.

* See the shore as the line between fire and water.

** The wave, on the shore, recognizes the piece of the boat’s wood.

C) Imagine a sailor, without a uniform, standing at that seam.

* You may imagine someone else instead — anyone who can let the wave wash the wounds on their hands.

** The wave, on the shore, recognizes the piece of the boat’s wood.

D) Picture the sailor standing among broken pieces of the boat’s wood.

* Standing is composed of a shout and a pride.

** The shout has drowned, and the pride rests on the edge of the boat’s wood.

*** The wave, on the shore, recognizes the edge of the boat’s wood.

E) Trace the shadow of pride through the reflection of the sailor’s hands in the mirror.

* The sailor’s hands lie across the edge of the wood.

** The wave, in the mirror, recognizes the edge of the boat’s wood.

F) Picture the sailors — not as individuals, not as a crowd —

but as hands moving together across the surface.

* Their wounds speak in silence.

** The wave, on the shore, recognizes the piece of the boat’s wood.

**** Lonely sailors surrender their wounds

to the arms of the wave.

And the winds, loyal and silent,

do not leave the shore.