Derelict

Upon the ocean waterborne,

On remotest waters forlorn,

A sole ship is faring forth,

Burdened with loads of great worth;

Priceless treasures its hold hoards,

Yet no man can be seen on board;

The sails hang ragged from the masts,

This explorer now but an outcast.

Once upon a time, a captain set out on a quest,

For which he would sail through any tempest,

For his quest was to travel t'ward the stars;

To sail into the sky itself where the gods are.

It was a quest he would pursue with iron will;

Even as roaring waves over the bow would spill,

Even in the face of the greatest hazard,

He would just keep on sailing onward!

But the sailors tired and grew mutinous;

They were many, but the captain furious,

One by one, by his own hand he slew

Every last member of his own crew,

And into the waves they were cast,

In the ship's wake to drown fast,

But so the ship was left to roll,

Over the waves without control:

Thus the ship 'came derelict,

As since its emptiness depicts.

The ship which storms buffet,

Is now surrendered to kismet.

In time fate alone will decide,

What destiny the ship betide.

Though for now it may still drift,

In time its death may come swift.

Tomorrow the ship may founder;

Someplace in the waves yonder.

Soon the waters may reach its deck,

And nothing will remain but a wreck.

Yet if it befalls the ship to sink,

And waters rise over its brink,

It will be sunk not by the seas,

For it weathers them with ease;

No, not in seas’ greatest wroth

Nor the fists of a giant behemoth

Would the ship ever find its end:

When into the abyss it would descend,

Its death will come far more subtle,

When his own ship the captain will scuttle.

Will the ship thus give itself up to the waves,

That no man but the captain can save?

Will it find its grave in undersea sand,

Or will it once again find new land,

There to muster new strength and men,

That it may once more set out again?

Yet onwards the ship roams,

Certain only never to come home,

For still the journey is set,

And settled for good its bet;

Beyond recall the dice are cast:

There is no way back, then, at last.