Death At Sea

The sandy delta, as always, was overrun by urchins

Even before the water set in to wash out their foot prints

It is the children across the beach who laid claim to it first

Ahead of the predictable and often tardy tide

But now with the water ankle deep and rising

The little ones with perked up ears caught sounds

Threatening them to cross the bar now or else

Words screeched at a frequency even clogged ears hear

It was a noisy and raging night at sea

The roar of angered waves dominated the din

And the blistering slash of briny water stung mercilessly

At hands, arms, a thumping chest and reddened cheeks

He did not hear the chanted prayers from a seaside hut

Nor the muffled cries of wife and children huddled

In his mind he heard a remembered warning at shore

Wife beseeching for him not to sail an ominous sea

It was as if he was reborn upon waking from a reverie

He floated in the stillness of a pacified but listless stream

Sea gulls flew overhead shrieking for edible flotsam

Now he was one with derelicts cast out by an enraged storm

A cruel sun shone mercilessly with searing ferocity

He could hear faint sounds carried by the easterly

Was it children’s laughter or a mournful dirge?

He doubled up into a fetal crouch to get back into his dream

The cold water slapping his sides made him aware of his demise