to sail

a ship set out from spain

past the ocean the queen ordained

her priest that blessed the wood

the planks, the beams, the hood

 

her demons come in fate

a wyrd, a knot, a state

her spice the drugs of old

for years it was foretold

 

for years the many ticks

the moments of the spell

sung like her ransom song

a bribe to right the wrong

 

in verse they will retreat

in prose they find their speed

in words they lust and bond

in life they failed and wronged

 

in life they write, they hate

they love and give and take

in art they think its safe

they drink, they shoot, they rape

 

to seek, forever search

those sailors in the lurch

who set out from spain at morn

and were lost upon the storm

 

the blessed planks still float

the sail too stayed up

canvas which holy winds gave creed

grasped them to the depths with speed

 

in death they go again

the sailors on the mend

to cold they went anew

with hearts as tried and true

 

by

LJ Thirsk