Shanghaied by God vs whatever

Today is my 79th birthday. I told a well-wisher today that I feel like I'm 179. 

A childhood friend responded to The Holy Grail - Kappa Alpha fraternity and da Vinci Code barely scratched the surface post:

"My dear friend. It has been a while since one of your postings touched me in such a wonderful way.  I am glad we are both still around and still friends."

Invictus 

BY WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY

Out of the night that covers me,

      Black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

      For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

      I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

      My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

      Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

      Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

      How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate,

      I am the captain of my soul.

Me to childhood friend:

Thanks. Alas, I’m a shanghaied, albeit willing, crew member on a sailing ship described in a poem that fell out of me once upon a time. I'll fetch it later.

SHANGHAIED

A calling to serve carries its own wisdom,

which legitimates both the calling and the serving

so that the two are one.

Only the one called to serve

can know this wisdom,

and for some who are called

the knowing comes easily,

while for others the knowing is a fiery baptism.

Each calling is different,

and while some callings can be declined,

others cannot,

and those whose calling is without repentance

know they are in it for the duration of the calling,

and while others may try to persuade them out of it,

the calling for ones such as these always prevails;

thus is it advised to all called for keeps

that they view their calling as a blessing

even when it seems at times to be a curse,

and that they try to reconcile the loss of their captain status

and allow the Spirit of God to man the helm of their ship,

and be glad and willing crew members thereon,

knowing that all sailing ships of souls

need a crew as well as a captain

to maintain and navigate the ship through

seas of many tones, depths and flavors;

so consider each league sailed

as part of the overall journey

going to where the captain deigns to go

by using whatever winds and sea currents available

to navigate the ship to the experiences

this ship and crew need to have

in order to fulfill their calling and its wisdom

revealed by the journey of many leagues,

many known only to the ship and its crew,

all of whom come to know,

some sooner than others,

that once conscripted

there is no safe jumping ship.

(7 June 2004)

Jesus said in the Gospels, "For many are called but few are chosen." 

Looks to me this art describes the many.

sloanbashinsky@yahoo.com