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 I am going out to fish
By Stephen Steward
Stephen Steward has a BA in Communication Arts from Austin College in Austin, Texas. He has a passion for theatre, storytelling, and for building/creating. Stephen is the father of two sons, Jededia Finn and Adrian Tex, and is an active leader in a Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, Alabama. He teaches computer skills with New Horizons and secretly writes poetry.
A plain man says easy things
Then goes and does the business he states
Fish are far and few
And a night is wasted on the water
Boats are empty and nets bring nothing
We toil and pull and drop and scream for the love
Of a catch that we might eat and feed our families
Driven by the need to place an edge on our lives
To see that what we do is skilled and fulfilling
We can not come in
Sitting on the beach in the morning light
Watching others do the work
A man is Alone and appears to seek company
We have no fish
We need not come in
We need to find a catch
We need… “Have you any fish today?”
Gathering the words so clearly
His voice is clear and calm
The water seems to quit at his accent
He is far and he is a figure and we call back “No”
Some drained live in us as sitting on a raft and hope feeds the bottom of the sea
“Try the right side of the boat”
Again we hear a voice like from inches not cubits
Which right side I marvel
Coming from a physique in the sun light new
He is pointing the others side of the boat
The nets are hard to move
The boom is set to the deep side of the vessel
The beach side is shallow
We will waste our time listening
We have wasted our time all night
We are moving the nets to the far side of the boat on a call from the beach
What?
Have we ridden the waves so long to listen to a man on the shore?
Do you know this man?
Moving the nets to the right side
Dropping them again for the last time since the last time we said the last time
Will prove us nothing
Since we have nothing to give our children
I am for it.
Fishing for a trade is hard
He does not look one who does angling
So listening to him seems ill-advised
How does the man on the shore now know this
That our nets are full
And so now shall our children be
Praise god for the day
Praise god for the sea
Praise god for the man on the shore who knew how the fish were to wait
How does he know?
what was that Simon?
where are you going?
He is alive?
Wait we need you to pull this catch to shore
The nets will not hold so many
There is no place for these fish to store
Looking away I see a fire
I hear a song on the wind coming from above it seems
This man has fish already and bread
Bring him some of ours since is showed us the way
This man knows us and loves us
This man Taught
This man teaches
By an act of throwing your nets to the other side
One man in a small boat
Might change a life of many
A net does not mean you are fixed with out will
A church is not a jail cell or frying pan
A prayer is not just words
A cry for love is not unheard by those who extend a net
For you to release to
So told us by the man on the shore
We will feed your people
Things greater than fish
Copyright ©2008 Stephen Steward. All Rights Reserved.
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