Here, in this Boat

Although some may be familiar with our pain, we don’t hold on to shadows
here, not in this boat / Laughter, smiles, reflections and speckles of memories
are all we permit / Although they may be gone, they are not forgotten, not in
this boat / Here, in this boat, we stand for strength, we stand for power / We
ride together, brought together as one, bound together in the setting sun /
When the drum beats and we soar through the bay, when we glide with our
paddles strong; that beat, that too is the beat of your hearts – they are not
forgotten, not here, in this boat/ When we pull through the water, we pull
together, in time, on stroke, stroke, the rhythmic beating of paddles slicing
water / When the beat of the drum matches the beat of our hearts, you are
there through it all, with us / So go on, knowing that you’ll be remembered,
that we won’t forget / Knowing that your names are still spoken / So go on,
keep paddling, keep paddling on here with us, in the setting sun / here, in
this boat /

By Maggie Benshaw
Annapolis Dragon Boat Club member and Poet Laureate for the City of Annapolis

In Memoriam