Crew

A ship's crew

quickly coheres

when the storm blows and thunders

Once the storm is weathered,

and the crew's wills are again untethered

each one sways by chance

and the collective gradually misaligns

with no storm to battle

the crew can become

haphazard cattle.

A motive to cohere can help the crew align.

But if no storm is present, to what shall they align?

Agreement on a destination,

is an idea, a guiding direction,

and can unite the aims of the navigators,

as a start.

Once the crew knows the ship has somewhere to go

some can recognize that it will need to be driven,

and those who know how will man the sails

row the oars

move the rudders

in organized concert.

Then once others see the work united

and seeing how the labor needs to be sustained,

those who know how can make and prepare the materials

the foods, drinks, and clothes

the whole crew requires.

And so on the others contribute,

the rhythm-makers, the star-seers,

the log keepers, the story singers.

Each can give what they can,

and the whole move in synergy,

if there is a trust and knowledge

of the one concerted goal.

And the more the collective knows,

the easier can each recognize imbalance,

and help show it and rectify it

before extremes arise and spread the imbalance,

and mayhap storms catch the misaligned crew unprepared.