I watched the ship break

under the biblical rage of the sea

The mast creaking into splinters

The greedy waves taking bites of bow & stern 

I listened 

as the wind, howling like a wolf,

carried the wailing away 

under a sky of trauma 

But then, 

her hand broke through a swell

Alabaster against grey

I cried out

Tried to crawl

but too soon 

I would be carrion for crab & gull

It slipped away

I screamed, cursing the whole damned sea

But, as if it heard the lament of my heart

the tide brought her back to me

Brushed her gently to shore 

Her head coming to rest upon my broken chest

Her pale lips bringing the faintest smile 

The sea had painted her a pallid hue

But she was home

I managed one last kiss

Before the chamber of my lungs became salt

 

And here we lie still

Wreckage upon the shore

Part of sand & stone

and tide & time

Forever entwined 

Observers of a changing world 

But for the sea

 

            The beautiful, murderous sea

 

Painting by J M W Turner 1823