The boat sailed at half mast,
assailed at both ends by sharp pointed
waves who crashed recklessly against
the nailed wood like jagged saws.
Cutting deep into the hull, the sea
violently pushed the vessel up and down
and pushed its watery arms into
the delicate structure built by inner planks.
Emotional bursts of wind reviled
in making the craft’s owner
search to the horizon from a perch at the bow,
and accusingly upwards, for relief or a warning.
As the sun died a second time,
red blood splattered across the sky
and the hungry mouths of open clouds
were covered with a wide, bleeding smiles.
They watched the drowning scene below them
and called from the depths of the ocean,
the usual welcoming party with a shovel and marker.