{"id":946,"date":"2015-12-07T09:32:37","date_gmt":"2015-12-07T16:32:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/?p=946"},"modified":"2015-12-08T08:56:39","modified_gmt":"2015-12-08T15:56:39","slug":"sailors-evermore-by-bruce-boston","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/?p=946","title":{"rendered":"Sailors Evermore by Bruce Boston"},"content":{"rendered":"
\""Burning<\/a>

“Burning Ship Fractal”. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons – https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:Burning_Ship_Fractal.jpg#\/media\/File:Burning_Ship_Fractal.jpg<\/p><\/div>\n

I.<\/p>\n

First the storms come
\nand we do everything
\nwe can to keep the ship afloat,
\na three-masted frigate bound
\nto Portsmouth out of Ceylon ,
\nriding low in the water with
\na heavy cargo of tea and spices.<\/p>\n

Dark clouds fill the horizon
\nand race toward us faster
\nthan the ship can run.
\nLight flees the sky and
\nin the false dusk that follows,
\na harsh moisture bristling
\nwith electricity fills the air.<\/p>\n

Before we can trim the sails
\nsheets of rain avalanche
\ndown, shafts of lightning
\nstrike the waters about us,
\nand the wind begins to howl
\nlike a bughouse monster.<\/p>\n

Sometimes we manage
\nto ride out that first storm
\nand that gives us courage.
\nThen there is another,
\ndangerous as the first,
\nand a third fiercer still.<\/p>\n

The masts topple,
\nthe hull is breached,
\nand we are thrown
\ninto the icy brine
\namidst the lashing rain.<\/p>\n

As we sink into the cold
\nand voracious deep,
\nfish with long rows
\nof razor-sharp teeth
\ntear us apart bite of
\nflesh by bite of flesh.<\/p>\n

It seems to take forever
\nbefore we can drown,
\nour mouths screaming
\nsoundlessly as our
\nconvulsing lungs
\nare filled with water.<\/p>\n

II<\/p>\n

Worse than the storms
\nare the deadly calms that
\nleave the sea motionless,
\na sheet of blue glass on
\nwhich reflections of the
\nlight above are blinding.<\/p>\n

We lie slack upon the decks
\nin whatever shade we find,
\nthe sun beating down upon
\nus from a merciless sky.
\nWe wait listlessly for our
\nrations of water and rum,
\nour minds lost and vacant
\nin the unremitting heat.<\/p>\n

When the sun finally sinks
\nto the horizon, we anticipate
\nthe temporary relief of night.
\nYet there is to be no night.
\nInstead of shrinking the light
\nalong the horizon grows.<\/p>\n

Glowing orange clouds come
\nrolling across the waters,
\nhorned clouds filled with
\nfrightening shapes and figures.
\nThe sea begins to boil as sheets
\nof sizzling lava sweep across it.
\nThe wood of the ship catches
\nfire and the decks collapse.<\/p>\n

As we are cast into the flames,
\nburning over and again,
\nthe raging fires consuming
\nus endlessly, our dazed
\nminds come alive at last,
\nour pasts parade before us.<\/p>\n

Now we realize that we
\nhave never been sailors.
\nWe are investment bankers,
\nbent politicians, cardsharps
\nand shady merchants,
\nrapists and thieves,
\noutrageous pimps
\nand audacious whores,
\ntyrannical husbands
\nand insidious wives.
\nAll nevermore.<\/p>\n

For now we understand
\nfull well for the countless
\ntime that we are nothing
\nmore than unrepentant sinners,
\nmandatory guests at our own
\ndamnations, sailing upon
\nthe seas of Hell forevermore.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I. First the storms come and we do everything we can to keep the ship afloat, a three-masted frigate bound to Portsmouth out of Ceylon , riding low in the water with a heavy cargo of tea and spices. Dark clouds fill the horizon and race toward us faster than the ship can run. Light […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poem"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=946"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":952,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/946\/revisions\/952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}