No Mooring

Apparently the theme of becoming detached - or setting oneself adrift - regularly haunts me. Oddly it is a metaphor for any number of associations or predilections I have had. In almost every instance, the moment I begin to dwell upon the topic the resulting alteration is invariably beneficial. There are for example certain unhealthy habits such as cigarette smoking from which I have unhooked myself. As is so often the case the conviction to untether oneself from an accustomed practice is not usually either easy or convenient. There must normally be an attending problem before the removal is legitimized. The effect however is frequently that of a purge - not only a release but also a cleansing.

"A mooring refers to any permanent structure to which a vessel may be secured. Examples include quays, wharfs, jetties,  piers,  anchor buoys and mooring buoys. A ship is secured to a mooring to forestall free movement of the ship on the water. An anchor mooring fixes a vessel's position relative to a point on the bottom of a waterway without connecting the vessel to shore. As a verb, mooring refers to the act of attaching a vessel to a mooring. The term likely stems from the Dutch verb meren (to moor), used in English since the end of the 15th century."

As the term "mooring" suggests, there are two primary constituents: one, a floating barque; two, the bulwark to which the vessel is attached. Both elements admit to their peculiar complexity. The moveable feature may encompass not one's entirety but rather only a portion - such as a confined displeasure as opposed to a general dislike. A personal relationship may suffer only certain failures of connection or security. Likewise the bulwark to which one is attached can vary greatly both as to magnitude and location. The fixation can be as fluid as a channel of association or as persuasive as the bank of one's being.

Mooring by definition limits (or restricts) movement; it might be said to impede or thwart. For some this is an uncomfortable state of being; for others it is a source of security.  In either case the alliance is frequently viewed as one between forces of varying (or competing) strength - though not necessarily - and may at times be irrelevant. There is reasonable debate concerning the possibility of untethering, or at the very least the real or emotional cost of doing so. Sometimes the simplest way to avoid the unscrupulous result of mooring is to prohibit it from the outset - though in most instances the discovery is too late and after-the-fact only. Where however the indicia of contamination exists it may be opportune to capitalize upon the warning.

Naturally being overly cautious is its own form of limitation, one which if too enthusiastically embraced might have the effect of reducing one to a state of inertia. Being drawn by such biblical aphorisms as "All is vanity" successfully curtails even the most innocent pleasures. While it is unquestionably true that in the end nothing really matters, there remains at least some time within which to relish visceral gratification. Whether one extends this philosophic argument to include or prolong every possible mooring is a matter of individual choice.  Perhaps mooring is a matter of the heart - as in, "My Cheri Amoor!"

By the time I get to Phoenix she'll be rising

She'll find the note I left hangin' on her door

She'll laugh when she reads the part that says I'm leavin'

'Cause I've left that girl so many times before

By the time I make Albuquerque she'll be working

She'll prob'ly stop at lunch and give me a call

But she'll just hear that phone keep on ringin'

Off the wall that's all

By the time I make Oklahoma she'll be sleepin'

She'll turn softly and call my name out loud

And she'll cry just to think I'd really leave her

Tho' time and time I try to tell her so

She just didn't know I would really go.