There’s a ship I’ll never sail

Bound for an island I’ll never find.

       There’s a ship I’ll never sail. I saw it long ago. Or dreamed that I did. She runs free under a wind that blows warm and gentle and always steady. There are no lines to hold this ship to land. And no port lays claim to any of the men who climb her rigging in search of new horizons.

       There’s a ship I’ll never sail. Where men are men, and dreams are only an island away.

There’s a ship I’ll never sail

Bound for an island I’ll never find.

On board is the child I never was

And the man I never became.

       There’s a child I never was. I knew him long ago. Or dreamed that I did. He never slowed down to doubt himself or worry about the future. He lived for the moment, and for laughter and friendship. And always dreamed of sailing off one day in search of pirates and buried treasure.

       He grew into the man I never became. And sailed off one day in search of his dreams. Never learning, as I did, that Time is a pirate who buries dreams as if they were treasure.

There’s a ship I’ll never sail

Bound for an island I’ll never find.

On board is the child I never was

And the man I never became.

Their eyes are fixed on a horizon

That never draws closer.

And just beyond lies an island,

Which like the book I’ll never write

Reveals the love I’ll never know.

       There’s a book I’ll never write. I saw it long ago. Or dreamed that I did. It explains everything: all the suffering, the longing, the hopes that echo in the darkness under the stars. In this book, no man lies to another, no person cheats on the love he owes, or tries to take more than his share. And on the last page, etched in gold, is a map that reveals the location of the island, and the treasure it contains.

       There’s a book I’ll never write. I saw it long ago. In a pilot’s cabin. On a ship running free.

       On a ship I’ll never sail.