A man alone atop a ship
Takes midnight watch, his people sleep
Through passage narrow he must keep
Sharp eye lest navigation slip.
The large decaying moon glowed bright
The rocks around were clearly lit
But there a softer curve did sit
Emerging forms born out of night
Shine of eye, torrent of hair
Dewy skin and throat demure
Her concave yearnings salted pure
A warm night’s wind breathed through the air
And his breath caught as sure as hers
His duty now seemed but a curse
Mere threat of death could not be worse
Than sailing on as course occurs
Enchanted with her moonlit face
Her beckoning limbs and burning gaze,
And freed from the reason of his days
The sailor leapt to her embrace
Such vessels wreck on reefs like these
with surface rippling over deep
Their longing lives forever keep
So many hearts are lost in seas
Man in desperation torn
And shore’s desire for kiss of foam
Hid jagged truth: his final home.
Now see in the red strip of dawn
That legs of sand and smooth rose-shell
Condemned his soul to briny Hell
———
I guess I was feeling Gothic, hope you like it! It’s a first draft, and may need some more tweaking.
This was inspired by a poem by poesypluspolemics, a blog I very much enjoy reading. Go see if you can spot what I stole!
Who Wander Are Lost 