Death sits in the Boat.

There is a boat; it’s anchor plunges heavy into the deep, pulling with the weight of its force and so much more, drawing the boat into the embrace of the waves. 

 

The sail is open, pulled by the wind that reaches upward to the heavens, for it is night.

 

The anchor is correct, a storm will come and it is searching the bed rock of all things.

 

The sail is mad, dizzy with the certainty of the day that there is no storm.

 

In the boat death sits, watching the struggle.

 

Death is always there; the ferryman each time you cross the water demanding tribute.

 

You should not be shocked when you see him standing there on a distant shore.

 

If he points your way, it is but a warning.

 

You can rant, you can rage but he will not go away; he has always been there in front of you, from your very beginning.

 

You saw it in your mother’s first born in her eyes as she cried holding you watching, your first breath. 

 

Though you did not understand it then.

 

It was there at school when another child fell never to rise again, though you still did not understand.

 

And then it was there, close enough to feel her cold breath, as you too tumbled into the seas embrace.

 

Then, you understood.

 

But it was not yours.

 

You saw her again with your grandmother, as you stood with your sister in the corridor.

 

You watched it with your mother in a hospital bed, not from the corridor but by the bed. Your mother fought, before she let go and drifted down beneath the boat.

 

To swim no more.

 

Death was there when your friend died in a terrorist attack, when your favourite Beatle was slain, when your neighbour’s daughter took the bend a little to fast.

 

A little too reckless.

 

And when you reach the narrow but homely corridors of your own life and you see the shadow once more, do not be alarmed.

 

Death is but your constant companion.

 

When she turns for you, she will not point.

 

A gentle touch, a soft caress is all you will feel.

 

You may even miss it.

 

So the anchor be dammed, sail on silver sea!

 

Let the sails unfurl and fill with roaring wind.

 

The waves will carry you forth.