Eight Red and Blue Oars

As the boat moves swiftly on
I'm leaving behind my sorrow
As I soar along the water
I won't think about tomorrow

Each time I slice into the lake
That's one less cut that I will make
This boat with its star shoe laces
Will never require that I'm fake

The letters on the side are peeling
The riggers are all bent
The bow ball was replaced with a Ken Barbie
The shell is riddled with dents

It's called the Little Women
I have felt how it can fly
It may be rough and ragged
But, then again, so am I

The morning is cold and crisp
I feel resistance against my oar
I jump and throw my body back
This feeling is what I came here for

As we listen for the coxswains orders
Lake Sammamish's shores never stop
All that matters now is the sound
Of eight oars as in unison they drop

Eight oars for eight little women
And the little coxswain up in the stern
Eight oars, nine lives, nine stories
But right now there's just one concern

Go faster, work harder, fly farther
This little boat is ours to keep
One day we'll be forced to leave it
Along with a piece of us in each of the seats

Bow pair, Stern Pair
Kathryn is the fifth seat
But on the water we're one
And we never miss a beat

Our speed is unmatched
As we create a perfect back-splash
Our wake trails behind us
Like a newly opened gash

We leave everything behind
That wake if full of crushed dreams
Its all the pain and sadness
Of my tattered and life-worn team

My oar-lock shudders and shakes
But the sound cannot distract
Cold splashes go ignored
I'm too focused to react

Each day we come to this place
Fighting a battle with our lives
With pain that we can't displace
And tears brimming in our eyes

We fight pain with pain
This is how we grieve
None of you will understand us
Ours is a concept you can't conceive

We are all intertwined
My despair is my team's
And the echoes in my ears
Come from each of their screams

As we move simultaneously
We become one motion
They move in constant strides
Revealing no emotion

The same story lies behind us all
Connected in a way we can’t explain
Each of us has different wounds
But the same blood runs from our veins

As the boat moves swiftly on
We're leaving behind our sorrow
As we soar along the water
We won't think about tomorrow_