Voyage Of The Marlborough Glasgow
Created | Updated Apr 2, 2005
Voyage Of The Marlborough Glasgow
Author’s Note:
The Marlborough Glasgow set sail in 1890 from the port of Lyttleton in New Zealand with a cargo of wool and frozen mutton, and a crew of 23 men under the command of Captain Herd. She was lost at sea for over twenty years when she was spotted by the crew of the British sailing ship Johnson in 1919 on their way home from Lyttleton, draped in the green moss of decay with the skeletal remains of her crew still on board.
I
“Unbind the rotten barge in bay;
Step lively, b' stern 'n 'ur backbone.
Invoke the west wind wrought
By our torrential arrogance…”
Drive with out destination,
Impending consequence
Without observation-
“Set th' supine ship upon
Th' stoic sea…
“Cast th' children’s corpus overboard-
Abandon 'em wi' naught o' reservation
In your pace.”
Let them love the oceans impenetrable veil
With the rest of our disposable weight:
The tables and chairs,
From the dining room hall;
Trunks and cases,
Belonging to the lower class;
And the bands dead instruments.
“O unfortunate souls, damned 'ere upon
'Is deck wi' me, heed my tardy warning:
'Ur captain ‘s a ne’er-do-well; nefarious, listless
Alienist, who means to love the sea,
‘N a most abhorrent way!”
May the coral reef kiss
The foot of our gentle lady;
May the timber-bow cleave
The cliffs in loving dissonance;
May we sail forever finding
Naught, save no-thing!
“Press th' palms 'n sockets, stall th' insistence
O' sober eyes.
“Pray for th' loved ‘nd lost, pray for a soft bit o' sand
At th' bottom of the ocean; or th' hull b' tempered,
With th' fortifications o' Troy!”
“Lo how seaweed caressed
Th' infants 'eavy head…”
Water wilts the flower bloom
‘til solely bone shone through…
“Pray for th' children though…
“O murky, inky, rift;”
O vast unwavering blue-
How I love you!
“I
Love
You!”
II
‘Come lets get us away again,
Where th' wake-thrush beats upon cliff’s edge,
Jaded shore!
B’damned with th' placid beach;
Lull of lazy tides lick-like opiate, complacent-
Bore!
Come lets get us again,
To the sea-beat upon th' bloody shore.
We’ll bleach our bones on jaded cliffs,
We quit those beaches for!
I quite proffer my insanity,
Profanity;
To your bourgeois, contemptible
Lore!
Come lets get us away again,
Where waves beat granite, so, between
Spray and stone, pail flesh tore…’
III
The sun burned, and blistered my lips,
As I stood on the deck of the ship.
Accepted not food, nor drink,
Nor sleep; save bread, and water,
And standing slumber.
Declared my insane admonishing,
That the ship, was regardless;
Destined to sink.
The wind burned, and blistered
My ears, and the tender,
Pink meat of my cheeks.
Weather bleached their canvas,
To repaint my face in blood.
Tears ran rivers in gutters,
Of cracked skin (o tributary streams),
That were not tears of emotion,
But spray of salt winds mist.
(Lo us here, listless e'ermore.)
IV
‘Oh Jonah, we beseech thee-
Here, now!
Oh Jonah, we invoke thee-
Bring with you
To our suffering!
Here; Now!
Be upon us with the fury
Of your lord!
Let gale blow to jagged cliff-
Let the squall pelt to rip
Stretched canvas!
May the fury of your lord
Leave us blue lung’d,
To rent the life out
Our swollen chests.
May the king of your
People
Slake our thirst
Forever,
In the Fathoms of the Drink.
Let the cold water
Leave us pale lipped;
Clot these veins
In the frigid swell.
Guide us to
Iceberg-
Shallow reef;
Anything away from
The dead wind,
And unmoving sea
That does now plague me!’
V
I set out upon that sea,
Searching for shipwreck,
Found the cursed covenant
Of Caster and Pollux.
O there were storms,
And well enough, to drive
Those weak of will away;
Longing for the lull of land,
To still their shattered nerves-
Quiet the beating
Of betraying hearts.
But of a desolation fit,
To sustain, or stave,
That sadistic surge;
Blind mindless appetite-
There was naught!
Just the still sea’s
Patient mockery.
The quiet laughter laughed;
Water lips lapped the bow.
