wheelwatch wit

6/3/09

I spent several shifts at the wheel now, an experience I enjoy very much. At times it allows for quiet and solitary reflection on life, and at other times sheer boredom of watching the minutes pass. It was on one such night on the “Lucky Star”  I kept myself entertained and awake by lumping as many s-words as I could into the ultra tongue twister.  

“Surging through the sparkling seas, 

Slumber steals over us oh so sly!

Soporific sounds from the engine soothe the soul,

And sleep slips over the ship. Slowly, silence.

Suddenly the serenity is snapped and sailors speedily assemble,

Stumbling to soberness from their sleepy stupors.

The ship, strangely slanted, surfs onto the sharp stones of the shore,

And as initial shock spoils and sours into shared sentiments of sadness and shame

The sea seeps in and the scuttled ship sinks slowly down

Into the silky sallow silt of the sandy shallows-

A certain suffocating sorrow ensues as the solemn situation spirals into somber shambles!