The lifeboat was still filling with water.
I continued to bail,
but there seemed to be more water.
The weight and erratic dance of the bucket
Carved into my fingers
My heart hammered in my chest,
but there was still more water.
I had watched others many times
Bail themselves out of disaster,
but it has come for me faster and faster,
More and still More Water.
In the calm sea, in the quiet fog,
Other solitary sailors shouted indistinct echoes,
only the clarity of their concern reached me.
Were they shouting at me?
I do not understand.
I continue to bail the sea into the boat.
I do not understand.
T. Steck
Painting by Albert Pinkham Ryder
