The Distant Shore

From a distant shore my light does fade,
to shores of lands, all man-made.
In dreary fog my mind does wander,
far from God my thoughts to ponder.

Thick is the fog that clouds my mind,
my soul in chains it does surely bind.
In pain I seek to find my way,
to feel the joy I felt one day.

But far too thick the fog has grown,
the path away from God I’ve sown.
Clear was the day when I started,
my path of life from God departed.

No fog to block my eternal view,
my intentions to return were true.
But true to my nature I did think to try,
to stand alone in the dawning sky.

My ship I sailed on through the night,
no rudder to guide, to show the right.
Drifting alone, no one to guide,
my shame is real, yet I try to hide.

For lost am I, truly lost on the sea,
adrift in mans’ humanity.
Soon my worldly friends do fade,
my souls’ desires are soon to trade.

My life’s ambitions begin to rust,
I’m left alone with whom I trust.
The lonely world without a guide,
through life’s storms I’ve been tried.

Alone and weary on the deck,
I soon begin my homeward trek.
But dark and dangerous is the way,
a precious price is mine to pay.

For left alone my way did lose,
as my own path I did choose,
To drift and wander all alone,
to seed the life of man I’m sown.

Where do I turn to find the way?
From familiar shores I stray.
To find the yet more familiar realm,
to place the one at the helm.

He’ll surely guide us to the shore,
of life everlasting of life ever more.
If peace is what I really seek,
then losing pride and becoming meek.

Must become my life’s choice,
if I’m to hear the guides’ own voice.
Who’ll bring my ship to the rocky shore,
where I can learn to hear once more?

The voice of the guide to bring me home,
the way from the world he has shown.
I must follow the path that’s given,
and use the rudder as if I’m driven.

By him who in life has conquered all,
and redeemed my soul from the fall.
I listen to the teachers of my youth,
their words come through they taught me truth.

I remember now, the words they spoke,
how Christ took upon him my yoke,
And caused for me a time to change,
if I my priorities rearrange.

To leave the life I’ve come to know,
or a distant shore that only he can show…
He’ll guide me safely to the shore,
and anchor me forever more.

I must follow him, I must,
and in his wisdom I will trust.
As I leave the shore of humanity,
and strip myself of vanity.

Return to him with purpose of heart,
and begin as I did in the very start,
To follow him who anchors all,
to the shores of life he does call.

All the lost and weary who will hear,
he draws and brings them ever near.
He is my rudder, the one true guide,
who helps me to lose my worldly pride.

And turn to him, who conquered all,
for it is my name that he does call.
To lead and guide me away from the gloom,
of shores that are strewn with awful doom.

And fills my soul with heavens light,
and brings me safely through the night.
I find the way though the path is long,
and return to the shore where I belong.

With the savior as my guide this day,
I know that I have found the way.
Back to the shore of his perfect love,
my ship does sail to his realm above.

Never to leave his side to try in vain,
to be my own guide, I know the pain.
He suffered and he bled for me,
to save me from my own inhumanity.

David S. Maughan
September, 1st, 2001