Overboard

Waves crashing

Lightning flashing,

Overboard.

Collision and coolness,

Winded and breathless,

Surface impact.

Clothes gulping the trespass,

Encumbered in the morass,

Down we go.

Fingers stretched to the sun,

Refraction distorts time, slowing Amun,

Sinking to the depths.

Lungs expanding with water and salt,

Despair the lonely companion of tumult,

Falling so far down below.

Resignation and the relaxation of the mind,

As the surface light fades, darkness blind,

To limbo we descend down unopposed.

Sea floor rising to catch mass, rescue defeated,

Safely touching down on the sand, mission completed.

The sea bed comfortable, made for slumber.

Heavy hearted.

Shipwrecked

Here I lie at the bottom of the sea,

The weight of the ocean bearing down upon me,

With no room to breathe, movement with viscosity,

The water keeps me down, treacherous in her complicity.

Absent and abstract, patterns above are decorative,

The denizens pass by in a school, bright scales reflective,

Tickling and undeterred, they go to their objective,

Carrying the message of a shipwreck, an intruder of dubious motive.

Here I lie at the bottom of the sea,

The entire world, all humanity above me,

Quiet and serene, peace and a shanty,

At the bottom of the sea.

Lost and Found

Beneath the waters so deep and so dark,

I lay awake waiting for the light to make mark,

Forms take shape, be this the dawn?

The sun rose above with stretch and a yawn.

Hope brings life, a face within mine,

Who is this stranger; this heroine so fine?

With long curls and air, she aids me to breathe,

With a smile and love, the tension does relieve.

Buoyant I rise, once more to be born,

The surfaces grows boundless, the horizon forlorn.

My face strikes air, the sky my first sight,

Goodbye to the ocean, goodbye to the night.

 

Castaway

What’s this I see? An island? White sand?

I cautiously swim forth and step foot on the land.

Turning to the sea, I bid a fond farewell,

For back upon land, is where I mean to dwell.

The days are long and lonesome, be solitude my friend?

For thirst I find water, to my needs I attend.

The days are peaceful and sun drenched,

My life becomes entirely entrenched.

I see rescue? A boat in the far yonder?

Fire a signal lit, to shoreline do I wander.

A rowboat encroaches bringing shouts of salutation,

I am afloat, buoyed by elation.

 

From The Rogues’ Gallery

and recently spotted in:

The Compendium of One Hundred Word Stories

 

Cover: The Merry Drinker by Frans Hals

© DJA 2016 All rights reserved.