Pilgrimage

The Pilgrims, the Puritans, immigrants all,

meant well enough, leaving home and country,

enduring a long sea voyage, 66 days, below deck,

sick and harassed, crossing to an uncharted future

and the cold winter of New England, Plymouth’s Colony,

alone among strangers and unknown threats, indentured,

they themselves but a small congregation seeking

sanctuary and sanctity, perhaps seeking a new Eden,

and facing the harsh realities of a new world unsettled,

a new life, starting over, well-meaning, but one wonders

if their simple faith was strong enough to endure,

strong enough to break free of the persecutions

to find the Utopia they sought, a pilgrimage

through time, ending, perhaps, in today.