The Sliver of Foyer Light

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We’re the crew of survivors
Aboard
The Cumberland
The Re d’Italia
The SM U-10
Tormented by the 
the nautical circumference
of an interminable forever
Clinging to the rails of the ship
Watching in helpless horror
As our beloveds
Are 
dragged 
down
To the very same 
terrifying 
depths
That once upon a time
Strangled us 
Like the suffocating 
tentacles of mythical Kraken
in the heart-racing
panic-stricken  threat of the night time nursery
When we cried out
Like the howls of frightened cubs
For the life and death rescue of 
a hand-delivered
half-full glass of water
As we stared 
At the sliver of foyer light 
Which peeked in on us like God
through the steady as she goes
crack of a barely opened hatch
As we squeezed onto the rails
Of our quickly sinking cribs
And prayed from the
Depths of our souls
For our nocturnal captain 
Or first mate of the watch
to magically appear
Just like the mythical ones did
When the words of Treasure Island
Were read to us
In voices that sounded like the 
songs of grown-up mermaids,
Which would signal to us 
That it was time to
up anchor and float away
And so
Powered by the ritual
Of the reassuring blanket tuck
And lightly descending kiss
We would slowly close our eyes
The adagio of infinite trust
Unfurl the flags of our faith
And guided by the point of sail
And the assurance of velocity
We would head due north
Towards the discrete, starlit and most welcoming province 
of dreams.

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