19. went down in sight of land

[thelasthouse]

Or do I divide and pull apart
'Cause my bright is too slight to hold back all my dark
This ship went down in sight of land
And at the gates does Thomas ask to see my hands?

the captain slit the sails.
the steersman ran her aground.

her bow breaks over the rocks,
spine splitting and twisting.

her sails are torn and ripped,
her masts limp and broken.

the wreckers are waiting on the shore,
crowded around the brilliant lamp

that lured her in.
her rigging loops in knots.

broken-backed against the great rocks,
they strip her and gut her,

steal her gold and jewels,
peel away her skin to make houses and churches and brothels.

they leave her skeleton to rot on the rocks,
to be broken by neptune and the waves.

she gave them everything she had,
and neptune gave her what she asked.

so when the tides ran high up the head of the beach,
she picked up her skirts and walked into town,

and took her payment in blood.
they woke the next morning

to beds filled with seaweed and sand,
lined with planks and splinters,

with the church and the brothel and every house made from her timbers
laid flat against the earth,

and the sound of her laughing far out to sea.