Napowrimo #12

Today's prompt was to think of a tangible and intangible noun, and then find sentences, and swap them out. I used "loneliness" and "boat" and came across an interesting find:

Did humans colonize the world by boat?

Swapped out loneliness for boat, and began musing. Here's my freewrite:

The Boat

Did humans colonize the world by loneliness
and loneliness alone? The search to see our faces
smiling back at us across generations of water,
continents of bodies, glaciers of tears and rivers
of pain? Was it loneliness that made us search
horizons, shield our eyes from the sun, seek out
one another? Was it loneliness that blew against
our sails like the wind takes twirling oak seeds
from the tree? Was it loneliness that taught
our tongues to speak, to mingle, intertwine
and kiss? Was it loneliness that made us see
our faces in the moon, our stories in the stars
our goddess in the sun's heavy rays? Was it loneliness

that brought my parents together one evening
in a cramped dorm room, was it loneliness
that brought me into being? Was it loneliness
that brought me here, staring at your face
illuminated by a candle's light, listening
to the quietness of raindrops on the roof.
We talk, exchange the pleasantries of words,
consider going through the motions of life
together: interlocking fingers, pressing lips
on lips, a tangling of legs beneath bedsheets.
But is it always loneliness that greets me
in the morning, before the day's first awkward kiss,
as the cold wind blows against my naked skin
and draws me out of bed, keeps me always searching
for something different, something more.