The Tale of the Modern Odysseus by Asiya Gendron

Words cannot describe the horrors my father faced lost at sea.
The endless waters tried to consume him and his heart was never free
Of the desperation he felt eating at his soul,
He thought of his wife and son
His only lifelines
Time almost ceased to flow,
The endless cycle of the sun and moon the only constant in his life
The waves that brought him there
Seemed cursed by God
The seasons passed in an incessant flow
He almost got a malady from seeing
Spring become winter and wind become snow
Far in the distance an island arose, Hope blossomed in his heart
His mind proposed that it was an illusion but his heart said something else
The countless days at sea will come to an end
There was a woman there, on the island
He realized with despair
That he couldn’t return
The woman said she was abandoned
On this island as a child
She told him she will help
Get him to mainland
They gathered wood
What little there was
To make a boat
To take him home
Back at home
A wife was mourning and a child was crying
She thought that he was dead
And her heart was shred
I his son, set out to find him, looking for him from
dawn to dusk, morning to night
Praying that he was alive
They managed to make a boat, the woman and my father
Too many years away from his family
Will come to an end.
The father came back on a bright day
That was almost as bright as the smiles on the faces
Of his wife and son
His only lifelines.