LOST AT SEA

The day dawns hot and heavy
clouds fill the western sky
The breeze is strong and steady
and hope is running dry

Far out on the ocean
beyond the sight of land
Storm winds whip white horses
Seeds of destruction fanned

Clouds turn in to thunderheads
as trawlers run for home
the wind gnaws on their rigging
as a dog chews on a bone

Fate selects unlucky souls
who stayed too long at sea
and only gulls will hear their cries
when they face eternity

The waves rise ever higher
the engines race then groan
and then in desperation
care to the wind is thrown

A towering wall of water
rises up behind
and searchers seeking shipmates
no trace will ever find

It happens in an instant
that seems to last all night
and those who struggle briefly
will soon give up the fight

Down in to green waters
to Neptune's sweet embrace
Sailors far from home now find
their final resting place

And soon the storm is over
and word like wildfire spreads
and wives and sons and daughters
start mourning for their dead

Such is the lot of seamen
who ride the ocean waves
Some whose lives are forfeit
and some whose lives are saved.

(c) May 2000 Written in Mackay, Qld.

Wrecked yacht on the beach at Rockingham, Western Australia

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