Drunken Sailor

I'll drink from this bottle me fill and hoist the yellow jack.

Honey sweet and warm down the throat, I drink the bottle dry.

Quill dipped in ink I write my will on parchment lest there be a voyage after.

A thank you to many a threat to a few and a sorrow to you.

Many mistakes this privateer made, but you were not one of them. Not until I left you marooned in Barataria Bay. I found the music box you left stowed away in my quarters drawer. As I cranked the handle, the tears began to flow as fast as the honey mead quelled my dry throat.

I cannot write this wrong, that much I know. But if ever this letter finds you well, know that I am sorry. As empty as my words are, they still hold true. And I will hold them true til this bottle be dry, the ink be empty, and my ship be in timbers sunk to the briney deep.

I hope you found your way from that island. I wish you fair winds and following seas. And though I am sure to be dinner for the devilfish, I wish them leave you be and grant you safe passage with the leviathans of the deep.

If ever you need counsel, or need a shoulder to cry on, or someone to converse with to quench your boredom, I will remain here, adrift on the vast blue horizons. Send word and I will sail to you.

Broken bottle.

Empty ink.

I turn the crank, drift drunk to sleep.

And if I die before I wake.

My soul for Davy Jones to take.

Reviews

[Dust and soot]

This is compelling but leaves me with questions. You abandoned this person who seemed to care for you? Enough to hide music boxes. I don’t understand why. You wish them luck and offer to be there but why push them away in the first place. It sounds like you love them but you don’t want to or can’t? I hope eventually they read this. Either way it’s well written and I look forward to reading more.