The Sailor

Selene lets shine

Her pale white light

And urges the sailor on.

His cold dark tales

Ne’er since have failed

To spurn legend now he’s gone.

The darkened waters

be nothing but fodder

For his advent’rous spirit to claim.

For since that day

When he first sailed away

He wanted all to remember his name.

He pulled to shore

Near late one morn

To stop and rest a while.

But low and behold

In his cargo bay stowed

Was a monstrous crocodile.

Now this sailor knew

Just what to do

For he’d learnt much in his journeying.

He grabbed a tall musket

and prayed he could trust it

then forced the croc out to the sea.

This battle aboard

His dear little horde

Had captured the nearby town’s eye.

Much had they seen

yet none could believe

The calm repose in the man's bright eye.

After defeating the croc

The man boarded the dock

seeking a room for the night.

The man at the inn,

Too shocked to begin

Said ‘please, stay as long as you like!’

The sailor gave a nod

Of grateful aplomb

And walked on with the innkeep,

But before he crossed the door,

There rang an ungodly roar

And out sprang a beast from beneath.

It was a colossus so great

That its entire weight

Would’ve housed four Globe theaters.

From large, scaly head

To horned tail’s end

Ne’er had the sailor seen such a creature.

The sailor drew

The one sword he knew

Would bring down the great fiend.

Tho as he swung his blade

He felt somewhat betrayed

That he’d run into this after all he had seen.

For he’d fought with harpies,

He’d scoured the seven seas

Looking for lost damsels at bay.

Yet now when he thought

He’d get rest like he ought

Here comes a demon to ruin his day.

The battle wore on,

Well after dawn

So much so that the citizens fled.

The sailor kept fighting

Knowing the beast was dying

And soon he’d rest his world-weary head.

One final blow

And the beast then dove

From a rocky ocean-drenched cliff.

And the sailor watched

As the beast he’d just fought

Fell to the watery depths.

The townspeople returned

They clapped and they cheered

For the sailor had saved them all.

He then turned around

Threw his sword to the ground

And to Morpheus’ arms did fall.

That sailor he travelled

He’d had many a battle

And nearly all had won.

Except for one day

Near the end of a May

When Death itself he took on.

It was a clear summer morn

On the cold North shores

After a fresh fallen snow was lain.

His last voyage he’d sailed

and he thought he had failed

To immortalize his well-earned name.

Tucked in a cave

With only the aid

Of a feather dipped in blood

The sailor wrote down

His long life of renown

And, when finished, saw it was good.

At this moment then Death

Took up his tall scythe

And entered the cave with the man.

But as he approached,

Over the sailor encroached,

He paused to watch again.

Death waited with a tether

Til the man put down the feather

Before ending his well-lived life.

By then he was ready

The sailor stood up and then he

Went willingly with Death to the night.