The Salty Sailor’s Lament
A salty sailor washed up like debris.
Much time spent much too carelessly, all told.
A patient saint now patiently grows old;
A hermit living on a stormy sea.
I should have left, abandoned ship, escaped.
A wasted hulk now, rusty callouses,
but thinner skin from mindless malices,
both ridden and trod on, prodded and scraped.
All hatches battened, anchor down, no sleep;
Broken and twisted, all-scar-tissue built;
Wracked with anxieties, riddled with guilt;
A piercéd hull gone rusted iron keep.
Though need soon drives me back into the street,
Buried at sea, at rest, I seek defeat.