Observer's Dilemma

We'll see
Each other soon,
am I right?
You won't forget
Us, right?
Have you forgotten?
We'll see.

"Captain," the man on top the sail whispered loudly. "You aren't supposed to be here, you know?"

"I'm sorry, if I came here unannounced," the captain smiled and handed the man on top the sail a bottle of rum. "I just found myself wanting to climb the mast and looking out the ocean. The moon invited me here as well. I have no power to reject such generous offer, don't you think?"

The man on top of the sail smiled back and took the bottle of rum. The ocean wave gently lull the sea wind to breeze on smoothly. It was evening and the captain's crew are mostly asleep. On top of the tallest mast, him and his man of the sky bask in the nightly sky lights.

"You sure are lucky to be here every night," the captain said giving a laugh after. "To always sleep underneath a generous sky. And the crushing waves are just faint whispers to your ear. What a sight."

"It's always a fleeting, captain," the man of the sky said.

"A fleeting?" the captain asked trying to grasped what his crew confused. "How so?"

"I do enjoy these moments of tranquility but there also also time when I'd rather be with the rest of the crew."

"Why don't you come down, more often than few? This ship is our home, why cage yourself here?"

"I cannot do my duties there," the man of the sky said. "I let us into a storm once I failed to get here on time. Warn you all about the rain cloud forming, the wind speed gathering. It's my fault why some our sails and oars needed be repair."

"None sense," the captain said as he drank the last drop of his bottle. "You may be here the longest but you do not see the big picture."

"I need to be here always, captain," the man of the sky said. "I must."

"Are you sure?" the captain asked.

"Yes." the man of the sky answered with stern eyes.

"Tell me my name," the captain said. "You who's duty is to protect us from the sky and uneventful beyond. What is my name?"

"Your name, captain?" the man of the sky repeated the question. He's been longer than most of the crew. His argent crown says it clearly. But, to his surprise, the name of which he serves. He has forgotten. "Your name is... You are..."

"Perhaps I am wrong... you've been looking at the big picture. At this grandiose sight and you've lost sight of the minute details," the captain smiled as another bottle of rum appeared from his coat. "Or perhaps all this loneliness and solitude have kept you from seeing what we see."

"We?" the confused man of the sky asked.

"My good friend," the captain said. "Are we not on the same boat as you? If all you do is stay here then are you really on the same boat? Fortune and misfortune comes hand in hand. That's a given. Who knows what lies beyond that boundary we see across the ocean or what's behind that cloud we see from the sky... only one thing is certain. We are on the same boat, you, I and all of those down below. It's fine to enjoy this moment of peace but don't take it to your heart when the whole sky comes down pouring."

The captain held his bottle up to give toast to the moon. The cloud were stirring away as the stars shone even brighter in that darkest night.

"The sea, the sky, the stars and the moon, that's all part of the big picture, but reflect on yourself, see yourself, see everyone around you, look down there. The ship is sleeping and here you are gazing at the eternal beyond. Can't you not feel awe for just admiring and looking at it? But one must not forget, the big picture is composed of all of us.

"If you can't see the minute details then your just blinded by what you're looking for."

The man of the sky smiled. He didn't understand what the captain said but having a long chat with him made something certain in him. He must be there more times than few, if not, there will come a time that it was his name that the captain may forgot. He is, afterall, part of the picture.

We'll see
You won't forget
Each other soon,
am I right?
Have you forgotten,
We'll see
us right?