Marie Celeste

She approached in full rig
Catching every breath

Silent as a swan on that silvery sea
There was just the Moon watching her
And me

Adrift

Like night's ships should
She seemed to steer clear

So, was it me or she who veered?
No bored inquiry could ascertain

I threw out an old line
Soon found myself aboard

All ship-shape, lights ablaze
Fully crewed with memories of men

Who abandon ship
At first whisper of storm

Wheel lashed holding course
I searched for a survivor

Found her remaining soul
Albatross limp in hand

I signed on and prayed
Not all was lost

~

n.b. NaPoWriMo 2022 Day Seven prompt; produce a call-back to a proverb, or idiom. Here conflating ‘Passing like ships in the night’ and ‘It was like the Marie Celeste in there’. Does this pass muster? I may have lost my bearings a little.

CLP 07/04/2022

12 Comments

  1. kim881 says:

    An excellent conflation and I love the structure of this poem, especially the way you isolated the word ‘adrift’, and the clever metaphors – I especially like ‘I threw out an old line / Soon found myself aboard’.

    1. Thank you, Kim. The sea a restless metaphor for almost anything, wouldn’t you say?

  2. Oh, Chris, this is great! Love what you did here 💕🙂

    1. Really pleased you enjoyed this one too! Thank you for letting me know 😊

  3. Misky says:

    Nice use of the sea. Gorgeous.

    1. Thank you! It could be a cliché, but for me the sea has most things!

  4. Romana Iorga says:

    Love “Fully crewed with memories of men”!🍃

    1. Hi Romana! Where to line break that was a challenge

      1. Romana Iorga says:

        You rose to the challenge!

  5. No need to worry my friend.
    Consider the muster passed 👍🖤

    1. Thank you YLC 🙏

      1. Always welcome my friend 🖤

Comments are closed.