A Boy in a Boat

This is my nod to Scouting leadership.

A Boy in a Boat

I set a boy adrift in a boat, out on a choppy sea.

The waves were high, 

Crashing over the bow

So I bid him come back to me.

But I gave him no oars nor a brave coxswain

Nor a captain to guide his hand

I expected the boy to save himself

Tho he truly did not understand.

Who, then, should I blame if the boy in the boat

Founders and sinks 'neath the waves?

I stood safely on shore, merely looking on

'Stead of being the one who saves.

Be the brave lighthouse, be the Captain, the rope

Be the person who shows the boy in

Don't let him founder for want of a guide

Be the one he can count on to win.

Give him the oars he can use himself

To pull the boat into the shore

Then light his way o'er the rocks and the shoals

For that's what a leader is for.

© 2014 by H. Linn Murphy