Surviving the Flood

The barge slid on through the rushes,

Where once was a major road,

And pushed its way through the bushes

Where the ocean had overflowed,

The draught of the barge was shallow,

We could navigate by the shore,

Or over the swampy marshland to

The remains of the Foodland Store.

‘The place is probably empty,’

Said Rob, who sat at the prow,

Hugging the butt of the .22

That we’d need for protection now,

‘We’ll wait till the stroke of midnight,’

Said Penny, who managed the food,

And nobody thought to argue,

Or put the girl in a mood.

But then, as we rounded the Plaza

Another barge came in view,

‘That beast is called ‘The Marauder’,

Said Rob, who claimed that he knew.

Then lead slammed into our wooden prow

Their method for warning us off,

So Rob fired back with our .22

To show that we weren’t so soft.

But that was the end of the stand-off,

They’d loaded their barge and were gone,

Slipping away before ten o’clock

With the tide rising over the lawn.

‘We’d better get moving,’ our Penny said,

And headed off into the store,

There wasn’t much left on the shelves in there,

Some tins, but there wasn’t much more.

‘I never believed Global Warming,’

Said Rob, as he checked through his list,

‘Who would believe that the seas would rise

Or the end of the world be like this?’

‘It came on us suddenly,’ I replied,

‘Too sudden to sandbag the shore,

And everyone fled, unless they were dead,

Up into each mountain and tor.’

‘The cities are all under water,

The water is flooding the plain,

We’re lucky that Rob found this drifting barge,

It’s dirty, but keeping us sane.’

‘We’re not going to last on the food we have,’

Said Penny, ‘we have to find more,’

‘We’ll chase that ‘Marauder’, it may come to murder,

But they’d do the same, that’s for sure!’

It took us a week to catch their old barge,

They’d run out of fuel, were adrift,

And Rob shot the wretch who’d slept on his watch,

Their barge was half jammed in a ditch.

We transhipped the food while the tide was out,

And left with provisions to spare,

‘It’s a harsh, cruel world,’ we said to their girl,

As we sank their ‘Marauder’ right there.

Our lives will be fraught as we pass back and forth

On the waters that cover the towns,

We’ll have to go diving in Supermarts

For treasures of food that have drowned.

But other survivors are living afloat

Who will try to take over our barge,

The world of the future, a perilous sea,

While there are still others at large.

David Lewis Paget

Reviews

[Avinash]

People often think something which has never happened will never happen. This is utter foolishness to ignore the warnings of global warming and continue mindless consumption of this planet or whatever is left of it. They should read this poem. But irony is, when people can not imagine their own doom they do everything to welcome it.

[Acataleptic]

This one is wonderful! A thoughtful poem hinting at our very possible future if we continue on this path of taking our planet for granted.

[A Soap Mess Stories]

A dark and perilous story...a pleasure to read...

[R Smith]

a terrible future indeed David, your usual dark humor has no place here but your superb writing makes this a stark reality that I hope this world will avoid if common sense can prevent the rise of global warming, great work my friend :)

[A.marie.speaks]

You create such a strong image, as usual :) this world is so close, so possible...Statistical speaking. I am sure food will be the future currency and you mold a scary, but real world in this piece.

[Relic]

Just the other night I was watching a show called secrets of New York. They described slaves and captured prisoners aboard ships that left the harbors hundreds of years ago. The conditions were horendous with lack of food, ventilation and sanitary outlets. As a result disease spread aboard the ship and many died. This was such a good story and reminded me of that show right away.

Great writing David.

[Valentine]

Partly possibility, hopefully... something that never will happen. Guess the fortunate ones would be the ones under the sea. Valentine

[Jane Winters Rogers]

Very frightening line you wrote at the end of this poem......the world of the future a perilous sea.!!!
What a desperate life, you really "charged " the atmosphere with the lack of food being foremost in their minds...even to the necessity of murder when they caught the Marauder and the narraters worry of other survivors trying to take their barge....a .total catastrophe of epic proportions....written in your masterful style..a good one!!!

[Barbz]

Although fictional and so well done in your own inimitable style, it seems to be Art imitating Life. "Surviving the Flood", an unfortunate fact of life, of late and since time began. Will we ever be diving into supermarkets for food as we now dive for bodies pulled under water by Sunamis, Floods and like disasters...the truth is, where there is water, there is Life...where there is water, there is Death! I toast you for this extremely good job, with a glass of..............!! Lol, Very well done, Barbz

[Jordan]

A cross between Mad Max and Waterworld yet completely your own independent of others. It definitely leaves me wanting more. Well done as always, David.