I'm sailing away today, to a new job and opportunity. Change isn't easy, but every time I balk at the notion of it, I'm reminded of a poem from Edgar Lee Masters's Spoon River Anthology.

If you haven't bumped into it yet, Spoon River Anthology is a must-read collection of poems by the inhabitants of a fictional town, Spoon River, in Illinois. Each poem is an epitaph by the people of that town, and together they reveal many, many secrets, and tell one big story. It is said that many of the characters in this poetry collection were inspired by various people Masters came to know throughout his life.

So, anyway, the poem is a short and simple one:

64. George Gray

I HAVE studied many times
The marble which was chiseled for me—
A boat with a furled sail at rest in a harbor.
In truth it pictures not my destination
But my life.	5
For love was offered me and I shrank from its disillusionment;
Sorrow knocked at my door, but I was afraid;
Ambition called to me, but I dreaded the chances.
Yet all the while I hungered for meaning in my life.
And now I know that we must lift the sail	10
And catch the winds of destiny
Wherever they drive the boat.
To put meaning in one’s life may end in madness,
But life without meaning is the torture
Of restlessness and vague desire—	15
It is a boat longing for the sea and yet afraid.

When I graduated from high school, my friend Gift inscribed and painted this poem for me, and gave it to me in a simple wooden frame. This frame is one of those things that I have carried around with me wherever life has taken me.

Those lines: "I know that we must lift the sail / And catch the winds of destiny/ Wherever they drive the boat" ... well, they remind me everyday that I must not be afraid of change, of taking chances, and of going out on a limb ... and that's a good thing to be reminded of, isn't it? I think George Gray would agree.

I hate the word goodbye. Don't you? It has so much finality attached to it. So, I'll turn to other words in other languages or from other times to take leave of my WORD comrades:

A bien tot - French, literally translated as "in good time" .... i.e. see you around
Au revoir - French, literally translated as "to be seen again" .... i.e. see you soon
Farewell - from Middle English "fare thee well," may all go well with you
Phir Milenge - Hindi/Urdu, literally translated as "we'll meet again"

The world is a small place so ... yes, we will meet again -- maybe when we cross each other on our respective sail boats on the ocean of life ... or on the page, if nowhere else.