Ship of Theseus

The creaking of the boards on the weathered bow
The daily repetition of tying knots
A slip and tuck then pull it tight, muscle memory from a million times
Before the world awakes, he rigs his sail again
Every day the same.

Simple as the scene begs to be
Look a little closer and you will find
A tattered black sail and a battered
mast, leading him down a familiar path
Sieving silently the calm cold morning waves
Every day the same.

A heavenly youth, the people's pride
He's no more king than a fatherless child
The solitary dive for broken bones, such
A grim routine will likely take its toll
Alone he rows back to shore

Nothing in the world's ever made him cry
Even as a prisoner sent to die
Yet the cycles of our lives have made him bear
Experiences too awful to share
And though on the outside he looks the same
The peerless warrior is injured and lame

There used to be a woman by his side
Whose quiet little secret surely saved his life
The snuffing out of the monsters groan
Gave proof for him of her worthy soul
By a thread he did escape, and with her he sailed away
The people's hero once again

Cutting through the seas at a sprinters pace
Absorbing up the light off the Grecian waves
The most handsome of all ships up to it's time
Pristine and unscathed throughout all this strife
But a long, long, route ahead would test it's worth again

Fleeting as they are the happy times
The conquered enemies and the dearest loves
But accidental paths and Gods above
Will steer the stories of every son
And though today the grand meaning escapes
Who am I to know who he or even I should be in the end?