Lost at Sea

The fire took her completely, from bow to stern.
Flames roared along the sails and masts, illuminating the sea for miles.
I know people were screaming and the fire was roaring down into the water
But I never heard any of it.
I felt the heat from the ship and tasted the salt of sea but still I never heard.
I saw the deck burst up into the night and all the splinters turn to ash,
Falling like snow around me, hissing into the water.
The beast slipped below to slumber in the deep, the fire still burning as it fell.
There are faces filling the water, all leaving and going the way of the ship.
I have lashed myself to this wood and it's all that's keeping me above the bottom.
Now I'm alone and adrift and the rain is falling.

Day and night and what does it all matter?
Not much while begrudgingly lashed to this sliver of hope,
My floating cross to bear.
It was days, maybe years, might as well been centuries before I solved it all.
This is a joke, everything in the cosmos has built toward this,
And I get to be the punchline.
The joke is that there is no joke.
And I never got the punchline.

Nobody expects miracles here in this hellish watery desert, I never did.
My body may have resided on the surface, my soul had long been drowned.
Yet hope still floated with me, whether I wanted her company or not.
It was the other beasts of the deep that brought her.
They lumbered and groaned out of the abyss, these guardians of the sea.
They sang such songs of mystery and majesty before vanishing below.
Now as I clutch the sand and feel it on my face, I realized so much.
We were never supposed to rule like this, fake kings in a fake empire.
We were made to feel small and helpless,
So we can notice this world and realize just how far we have to go.

Fog

You were in love last November,
When the cold rain thundered down on your roof.
A quiet soul you were, with your thoughts of certainty.
So why do you now sail on grief, alone and aloof.
This is not where you started nor where you will end
Or so you hope with no true way of knowing.
You have few constants to mark the voyage:
The waves greeting your oars, drumming a song on your hull.
The freed gull visits you every now and then, never stays long.
Then there's yourself, the most insufferable guest you have.
You have your demons and angels and you fight them all.
What are we to make of you, young boy of a man.
Is there iron enough in your bones to make this choice?
Or will it just bring you closer to the bottom below your boat.
What was better, your endless numbered days
Housing the sun that dances from horizon to horizon?
Or what about the deep dark nights,
When the ocean teems with life glowing in her depths?
Now we are in limbo.
You never did think it would be this heavy did you?
The only directions you recognize are up and down.
North, east, south, west; all lost to the great grey wall.
You know you can't stay anchored like this forever.
You must sail on, little one, you must stay the course.

At the Bottom

Seven miles down and still breathing air
Wondering how you got here
And how beautiful waves look, crashing overhead.

And you've always been told
That it's darkest before dawn
But then again you are seven miles down.

Shallow enough to hear the waves and glimpse the light.
Deep enough to touch the face of darkness.

In the towns, the drinks, the dreams we tread
There's a reason why we put relations with ships
Perhaps knowing they'll sink before we try to sail.

This sea will surely shake you to your core
It does not love you and it does not fear you
Sinking or swimming are all that you can do now.

How long will you hold your breath down here,
As the waves crescendo above you with possibility.

Down here, held in suspension above the bottom,
Weary and wary of loosing sight of the surface,
But tempting the thought all the same.

Waves are not meant to be your masters, remember,
This is not your end, the deep is not your grave, and
The ocean should never be your final home.

Oh my friend, how long have you been down here?
I would have you endure, swim if not for a bit longer.

To The Sea

We should not measure ourselves next to skyscrapers,
Monuments,
Mountains,
People,
Perceptions.

We must look to the ocean to measure who we are,

Limited,

Living,

Small,

Strong.

For man will know his true self when faced with the infinite.