The Shipwreck
I was a sailor once and went to sea,
With nought more than a yearning to be free,
Leaving home with promises to return,
Without knowing what horrors I would learn.
Eleven years spent under sail lashed by rope,
Not once traversing the cape of good hope,
But thrice and once more yet the last was lost,
For the sea became angry as we crossed.
The sky turned black, and the wind blew a gale,
We pushed on despite an onslaught of hail,
To prideful to know our fragility,
Hubris going before ability.
Waves became mountains and gullies valleys,
Shifting and turning, foiling our sallies,
Trapping us inside the churning ocean,
Confusing men with the constant motion.
The first of our number was thrown from high,
Tossed from the sparring, we all heard his cry,
Pleading for someone to throw him a line,
Before he was taken under the brine.
Fear took my honour, and I was a coward
I fled my post while my brothers glowered.
The memory stains my soul and I weep,
Worthless tears for the harvest that I reap.
