Rex Islam - Sailing to Nowhere

“What bitter wisdom does the voyage give! ”
– from ‘The Voyage’ by Chares Baudelaire

1.

My nobler dreams hover over me like Albatrosses;
Unfold my ribs – yes, there you can see the age,
The virtuous age brought from the olden times
When prophets unfurled truths – the heavenly lines;

Even then the devil was there in his divulsive attire
But could never meet up his mischievous desire,
Now gulping in its guileful vast like a ship
Drowning, where my spirited soul the only crew

Screaming, paddling hard, and clutching at the straw,
Clear sight movement ascending, bubbles coming up,
Staring at the fading light that wishes me all the best.

2.

Sacred spells left me with wounds that never heal;
Realization goes on but all its performance still
My nerves totally in control of the atrocious devil,
Limbs are dried, bones frozen, held like a corpse,

Only eyeballs look all around, breaths raise and fall;
Another Hamlet out of me or on the string a doll.
Bonds are hard to break, no release from the trance.
Time reaches its ending verge, youth running out;

The elf wakes me with a violent shake when it’s late
Discovering myself at rest from where I sailed away,
I found my hour, all strength ends with no innovation.

Rex Islam

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/sailing-to-nowhere/