Sargasso

Sargasso ..by D Johnson Fourteen days adrift time slowly slipped on the good ship Cavalier Becalmed, morose, no water they sipped drank rum to calm their fear The fog was thick o'er water and ship On the swell it heaved and slid They cooked a brew of weevily stew while the scurvy came unbid For days on end they searched a way to leave this fog behind no salt sea spray but the fog did stay And the captain lost his mind The men aloft could see not much And the cook he often swore The meat was full of maggots and such and green as the forest floor the boatswains mate didn't hesitate he swung from the mast at four the knot he made to hold his weight was said by some quite poor Old Will he said it should be done ten coils on the noose for sure they lingered on this end of one for soon there'd be four more though darkness came who was to blame who brought the curse on the ship they searched in vain for the old boatswain then over the side he'd slip come dawn of day a ship they say came looming from the fog its masts were bent and sheets were rent and the captain called for grog just one man stood near the deck fore grate it's timber ghostly grey perhaps he was the masters mate n'er a glance he cast our way we hailed him then with all our might not a move e'er came from him as the ship was drifting out of sight the head rolled from his skeleton thin Old Will now said "yes mates we're dead this is the sargasso sea there's no escape from this" he said "only death will set you free" so madness came some went insane rat poison cook did share the captain with an axe was slain and death was everywhere corpses now bobbed around the ship like jelly fish near a beach their accusing eyes attention grip stone dead but out of reach when I alone was left to moan the fate befallen me a breeze had made the rigging groan and we moved upon the sea all night I stood on the deck of wood till day brought clear sunlight the bloody fog was gone for good but something wasn't right a whiff of smoke from an old clay pipe like the one old Will did use I turned and ducked and dodged the swipe but the blade my arm did bruise Old Will he says "You have to die to break the curse you used" His eye was dead but his grin was wry and death walked in his shoes he swung the axe as he lumbered forth and it lodged in the mast close by I punched him south west east and north and over the side to die. climb the ladder?