Starbuck




All is Lost

 

He thought, he thinks, time is running out,

Speaks his mind to the stars, hearing 

The response in the the stays, spars, sails,

The Indonesian Strait's breeze carrying 

Them eastward, taking them, one more time,

To the warm current and the white devil.

Stars don't listen, breezes don't care—

The course is set; still, he speaks, never thinks

To pray, the black devil is set, as well, on

Destiny, damning all that gets in his way.

So it is, onward, no recourse, it will play out,

But how can a man not try, at least try, to set

This right, before all is lost. Above—above

The shrouded wind, he hears the ivory step. 

 

 

 





Poetry by jim The PoetBay support member heart!
Read 873 times
Written on 2018-07-15 at 19:20

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josephus The PoetBay support member heart!
Lord know where "development " came from in my comments when my keyboarding wrote "whale"!
2018-07-19


josephus The PoetBay support member heart!
Starbuck; Ahab's Yin to his yang. The first mate of the Pequot fearful of the White development Mobi Dick.

This is a marvellous expansion on Melville's classic! Great stuff Jim! BRAVO ZULU!
2018-07-19



This is a complicated poem, shrouded in metaphors and images that to me mean how the destruction of the world continues while those on the ivory towers can deny it refusing to even try to delay or if we could hope, change the course of destiny.

I am probably way off, but those are the places where my mind dwells.
Whatever it is, it is profound and with a call of desperation.
Why Starbuck? I am missing something.
Ashe
2018-07-18


Ann Wood The PoetBay support member heart!
Such a nice story, well done Jim
2018-07-16