While being berated by the swells I was clutching fast to the helm.
I had fastened myself to the handles and was battling the shifting angles.
Yesterday I was alone on this ship and today I find myself alive in this empty realm.
Between ten thousand opposing wave I am utterly and wholly entangled.

The intense sprays of the crashing mists pelt my face and I dare not peak.
Topsy turvy and spun round into infinity I feel my weight lessening.
The wooden boards on my soles are no longer gripping, the sleek.
Each leg raises and lowers independently and my stability is disassembling.

Daring to peak during a pause in the barrage a light I see being swept away.
Having just racked my head against my own hands I leap to grasp at the kerosene lantern.
I slide and rattle my body along the railings praying I survive this hurricane,
Being washed towards the gutter like a fish I fear I’ll be sucked out and downward.

Just as I had imagined in a flash of foresight was it in fact the case;
Adrift in the sea and buried repetitively by mountains of oceanic deluge
Was I, an anchorite, sinking in my delusions like a lead weight,
And clinging desperately to the only thing in this life I know is true.

10 May 2019