Pursuit edit Final(for now)

[brynmawr1]

What is rowing but obsession,
a sisyphean task, 
the pursuit of perfection?      period?   change "the" to "a"?
 
Through ache and blister we struggle.
Each stroke a house of cards
against which wind and wave conspire
to keep us from our destination.
 
Seduced by the promise of the new,
we long for the elusive symbiosis      struggle, reach, pine,....suggestions?
of mind, carbon, and sinew.
 
If lucky, many become one, resplendent.      have never liked this as it isn't luck that get us there
Pushing past ourselves,
stretching the laws of physics
in pursuit of transcendent motion.
 
This trial and tribulation
to what possible end;
the finish line, a medal, 
the adoration of family and friends?
 
Maybe our destination is something else?            "different", maybe?
Hearing a friend’s laughter across the water;
the blue heron caught in flight on a misty morning     keep the "a"?
are a better measure of us.
 
This pursuit of perfection, it seems,
a fool’s errand from the start.
Plato’s dream, conceived in mind’s eye,
can only be realized in the heart.

Pursuit

 
What is rowing but obsession,
a sisyphean task bound to fail,
a compulsion, this pursuit of perfection.
 
Through ache and blister we struggle.
Each stroke a house of cards
against which wind and wave conspire
to keep us from our destination.
 
Seduced by the promise of each new stroke,
still, we pursue,
to make the whole greater than its parts.
An elusive symbiosis of mind, carbon, and sinew.
 
If lucky, many become one, resplendent,
laws of physics bound.
We push past ourselves
in pursuit of motion transcendent.
 
This trial and tribulation;
to what end, this pursuit of perfection?
For the finish line, a medal, 
the adoration of family and friends?
 
Maybe our destination is something else?
A friend’s laughter across the water;
a Blue Heron caught in flight on a misty morning
are a better measure of us.
 
This pursuit of perfection, it seems,
a fool’s errand from the start.
Plato’s dream, conceived in mind’s eye,
can only be realized in the heart.

The struggle is our salvation.
The journey our destination.

Not sure how to put in previous version.  still trying to figure out the formatting.  

Thank you for your time and input.  I have tried to incorporate your ideas in the version above.  I have also highlighted a few things that I am still pondering over.  As I am sure you know, the repetition was for the rhythm of it (and rowing is rather repetitive) but it was something I was conscious of and not sure about so I have tried to trim it down.  Getting rid of the last two lines was painful because they represent the idea that I built the poem around from the start.  The original last stanza read

Plato's dream, conceived in mind's eye,
can only be realized in the heart;
for the struggle is our salvation,
the journey is our destination.

Thanks again!