Boatswain

His life raft drifted helplessly in an ocean of tears and lost dreams In tangible finite and impermanent flow He lost his compass and the needle festered in Tom’s purulent arm A portal to hot flushes of receding pain Chasing sea dragons and hobgoblins he punctured reality’s voyage Fixation gripped an underworld of relief Rudderless he floated fuelled by psychedelic currents of reprieve Full of intrigue for surfing waves of delusion He floated perilously before he submerged in uncharted waters Unable to navigate he sunk like a stone Emergency flares reached stars but failed to hook into the sun As one single ray refused to yield revelation Yet when he crushed at rock bottom and scratched translucent surfaces One more shot blasted spontaneous combustion Dissolved in oblivion by pirates Tom finally took off his eye patch And realized that they patronize his demise 18th January 2020