He spoke in distant broken speech,

Of times and tides aplenty,

It was as if beyond his reach,

When he was young and twenty.

‘The moon had wrist, the tide did run,’

‘And it be dim and cold,’

‘None other than the mariner’s son,’

‘Did work these seas for gold.’

“Upon the deck the open breeze,’

‘Did fill the sails, with want,’

‘The wily captain quick to seize,’

‘Drew bearings from its font.’

A sharper eye, could not be found,

Though he be grey and gaunt,

And from his lips abuse did sound,

‘Twas the sea, that he did taunt.

A wife, had he, when he was young,

A beautiful rose like petal,

But on the sea, her life was wrung,

And since, he would not settle.

Half ridden with a mad neglect,

Half ridden with a sorrow,

There deemed a hidden deep respect,

That only few could borrow.

‘Then cursed us damned, the captain bleak,’

‘To wrestle us from our slumber,’

‘For fore and aft, were lightning streaks,’

‘Of great and varied number.’

He saw the sheets of lightning sharp,

And heard the sound they trigger,

Then bellowed out, his voice did harp,

With strength and manly vigour.

‘Aloft,’ he cried, ‘aloft, aloft,’

‘Aloft, in greater number,’

‘The moon lit sheets that billow soft,’

‘Will soon be torn, from lumber.’

Beneath a crown, of moonlit stars,

On seas that wave and lull,

Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

A vixen hail, like broken chars,

Tore fearsome, thick and dull.

And there upon the wind did streak,

It broke up, twirled and swallowed,

And we upon the ship looked bleak,

As always it did follow.

Alas we sailed like men all doomed,

As high above, the bright sky boomed,

And all upon the air hard digging,

To grasp a hold upon the rigging.

And then against all seaman’s plight,

The captain turned our ship to flight,

Our fore no more to split the waves,

Our aft now flushed with watery graves.

And chase the wind, he did not care,

A lesser mind, would not have dare,

And lashed himself onto the wheel,

Our lives, the storm, now all did reel.

Burdensome was our endless toil,

Ardently did the storm us foil,

Careening like flotsam upon the waves,

Rain hid tears, of fears’ coming graves.

And as we turned into the din,

The alarms we felt died deep within,

Upon a sea of emerald calm,

The silence felt, pricked on our palm.

High up in the still of night,

The moon shone clear, the moon shone bright,

The tender mercies that filled out eyes,

A doldrums sea and flashing skies.

And quickly brought the captain to,

The sails, the rigging, must all undo,

The sea now quelled with false like charm,

Would soon repent, with call to arm.

Nay, said they, for we be cursed,

The sea upon our souls now thirst,

The rigging all aglow in blue,

A deathly knell of an ocean hue.

And I, but for the captain fled,

Aloft, aloft, I sorely tread,

Alone upon the timber’s steep,

I wiled away, the sails to keep.

Alone upon the mizzenmast,

All eyes upon me, deftly cast,

And I did work them sore with woe,

The sea, the sky, my friends, my foe.

What bastion threw these shadows meek,

That formed before my eyes to seek,

And grew in numbers, heaven sent,

That all upon this ship repent.

What moon above, bled doleful dye,

The vacant lot, of mote’s own eye,

The wistful panes of shadow’s light,

In heavenly bodies, that speckle the night.

Anon the stars befell my eyes,

Shadows leapt before my cries,

Men upon the air now swam,

Like fish upon the river’s dam.

‘Kindred, dwell thine eyes aloft,’

Spake the cap’n, once not oft,

‘Behold the visage up above,’

‘That on the cross, now spouts his love.’

And quake they did, in fear and wonder,

His erstwhile bid, to stave or ponder,

Mixed with shadows, torn with grief,

Imaginings fallow, made time a thief.

And angels smiled from where I clung,

And drew kind pittance from where I hung,

And there upon, unknown unseen,

Fear was lost, that once had been.

The captain woke from pious sleep,

Then forged a voice that made men leap,

And with his tongue, like anvil blows,

Split the night with wisdom’s throes.

Harkened he upon their curse,

When angels paid from their own purse,

No evil from below could reach,

No devil on their soul beseech.

And quick to yield, they thought it just,

For sites afield, did render it must,

And quick they clambered, light of foot,

Amongst the hampered, sheets afoot.

And there upon a visage gleamed,

A maiden fair, like one so dreamed,

And called so soft the captain’s name,

That tamed the likes of one so lame.

A solemn sight did so much pang,

To lift her voice from whence it rang,

A lonely maiden, fair of youth,

And he now old, and grey of tooth.

Be still my eyes, I see it yet,

My heart, my mind cannot forget,

What pitied vision did she play,

That all men’s joy, she did but slay.

My wife, my mistress, out stretched with hand,

Be thou real or an hour’s glass sand,

Am I so ill, and fevered of mind,

That the visage I see, is death of a kind.

Vex not my husband, in truth and in haste,

The journey before you, is not yours to taste,

The greater men, before you will find,

And the angels above, in bed will us bind.

Quickly tore him on the ropes,

In anguished tears and broken hopes,

To undo lashings fixed and strong,

Whilst angels sang their holy song.

I acted out of mercy’s plight,

And like a spider in the night,

Caught the captain whilst he stood,

And spun a net, fast to the wood.

The captain spake in mercy yield,

Belay your web upon this field,

Let me not this hour wake,

And find my heart again to ache.

Beyond the mortal web of sin,

I cast the dice, but did not win,

And struck the captain full and foul,

And heard men’s voice begin to howl.

Leave off, thou fiendish, graceless curs,

Whose mother’s hearts feel ages’ spurs,

Whose only wife is sea or port,

And only wish, is their own thought.

What hinders men, more than demons, excepting his own lust,

When in his strife, or in grievance, he prays in God to trust,

And yet I did and did not do, and turned our world asunder,

And cursed my ship, my mates, my crew, this godless world to plunder.

Harken then, this world to see,

One God, one moon, one sun, one sea,

And in shadows, I did’st thirst,

A wont of life, though it be cursed.

Stow the ship, stow the crew,

And onwards we shall sail,

Upon the wheel, just like new,

I did myself avail.

And spoke unto the angels high,

That forlornly there did look,

To see what they could distant spy,

What commonly they took.

Our ship all torn where masts once stood,

With beleaguered splinters lased of wood,

And sails torn, from sheets of bed,

To port we limped, without one dead.