It was a lovely and tranquil day on that fateful day

The water it looked like glass, all shimmery and flat

With my eyes closed and a rye smile now on display

like the sun on that hazy and lazy day.

Wondering about re-enacting the feats of our saviour,

his teachings in the churches are where they lay.

Suddenly, there are screams and now more screams

“There, Look over there?!”  And there they were

all bobbing about on the ocean, an ocean still blue. 

Must have been 10 or more with flesh all bleached and fair

No sign of life, so stark and stiff, but which one will hold the clue?

Are they the occupants of that dying junk we saw back there?

The call was made: “Boarding Party close up - prepare to launch.”

The party was gone, like a speck on the ocean was what I recall.

One sailor did recall: “As I grabbed him, his left arm, it fell away!

It made me dry reach!  So, I’ll pass on lunch.”

It was an effort to carry them all down that tiny hatch door

The sight and stench, it scared us all, lucky we were a close bunch

Can you hear that? That noise, can you hear it?  Shhhh, listen again.

It’s the silence you hear and no wonder they’re carrying the dead

packed in bags of plastic and lead who sadly no-one is willing to claim

Do you see that over there?  Look closer, it’s a sailor and dare I dread

In his loving arms he carries a stiff bag no longer than a 2 foot chain

Ceremoniously, we deliver them all to King Neptune’s ocean bed.

Copyright (c) Steve Goldsmith – April 2010