The water closes over us
Here chained together, living dead
But now we will be free at last.
Three weeks we sat and starved and stank
Three weeks there shackled in the hold
But we have chosen death to this
And now are safely overboard.
Three weeks there shackled in the hold
But we have chosen death to this
And now are safely overboard.
My wife and child are dead as well
Murdered the day that I was chained
And I rejoiced his bloodstained knife
For now they are at home in heaven.
And if my soul can find that place
From this my placeless grave of sea
Yes, I will join them once again
And forever will be free.
I wrote this poem in its first draft in 1998. It is a topic that I (and I believe most) find very disturbing. I wanted to capture some of the horror, as well as the power that the speaker feels in taking back control from his captors.
ReplyDeleteThis is my favorite poem. Its dark, desperate and joyful, all at the same time.
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