8.08.2022

A ship by any other name

Once upon a time, there was a ship 

without a name, that left its port
encircled Earth, returned again,
from ocean to mouth of that river. 

Replaced, repaired, where wood had been
splintered, lost, remade the shape - 
called Theseus' Ship, its owner's name
and since, we've asked if it's the same
as one that sailed so long ago
from that port at the mouth of that river. 

 But what of questions yet unasked?
While we wonder after a ship
with each and every beam replaced,
Yet what of Theseus?
Was he not changed?
Does his name still mean the owner?
Does ownership slip if you've gone and grown different?

If taken apart, observed, polished, discarded
replaced, or rewarded,
the parts of yourself that you had,
and you have, is it still you who has them?

Let anyone saying different
establish that they are the same
person from start to end
of a single sent
ence 

And what of the name? 
I'm thinking perhaps it's not the riddle, but askers
who've lost sight of the ship
whether same or different -

- consider we never remember the name of the ship,
but only its owner's 

Perhaps the thing that does not change
is that the ship knows its own name
I don't claim that the name stays unchanged,
but just that it's not we who know it. 

(
And this poem: not these words, but this poem
has endured visions, revisions, moments, reverses
It's been a long trip 'round the sun
since you asked for a poem for your birthday

Am I the same person who'd already been writing?
Is this the same Earth that we stood on last year?

Uncountable water hurtles
out from the mouth of the shape of the river.
A ship returns
Reaching embrace of the ocean.

This poem is for you.
This poem is for you.
This poem is for you. 
)

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