But wont we die
Relax and watch the point of no return slip by
That ship in the night
Sailing across the dappled black
Surface of the sea
Small faces in the port holes
Looking out at the sinking sands
Of what we call earth
As the ship slips under the salty, shimmering
Mass
The band plays on and on and on
The violin sounds like a cawing crow
With the bow
Skimming the strings
In the fading glow
Of the waxing moon
The moon that controls the tides that now
Know they have you
Held close to a bosom
As old as that old man
And his sea
Deeper into the ocean
The hulking prow of the great steel tub
Silently glides by
The crepuscular, indifferent creatures
Rising for a taste of that sweet umami
they can chase around the warmer currents
Closer to the surface
And perchance avoid the lolloping
Tongues of them bigger fish
In the small pond
The ones that want
To take advantage of the preponderance
Of food
Until there ain't no food left
You know the ones
Though the ship keeps sinking
There seems to be no depths that can be plumbed
And half of the passengers
Are screaming at anything they can
For resolution to the situation
They have found themselves in
But the tin can walls and cut price
Cutlery cant respond
To their calls for revolution
So they shout at each other
Until a boy's head explodes in bloody viscera
And his busted and pulped brains
Get on the meringues and blue cheese puffs
Which are gulped down by the placid passengers
Busy watching Toy Story 3
On the broken televisual screens
They haven't got a care or concern
Except one mustachioed man
With an undone tuxedo
And a small piss stain on his pants
Who says "is that Laura Derne?
I think that's Laura Derne"
But it's not Laura Derne
The thin, soy milk drinkers
Have formed a bloodthirsty band
Of raiders
Made up of Geography teachers
And woke market traders
And their hideout is in the galley
Where they have been gathering
Supplies and bartering on the black market
With the carpet salesmen
And fans of retro game
'space invaders'
And their leader
A man in tweed with the look of a guy
That just found a pristine saxophone reed
Has been known to give special
Consideration to the league of nations
That has formed amongst the engine room
Workers and chambermaids
Who are all from the same country
A rudimentary military
Fighting under the flag of a
Gravy stained table cloth
Now occupy the north of the ark
Though as it sinks into the dark
No one is quite sure where that is
Least of all the commanders or colonels
Ostensibly in charge
Regardless they forge ahead with
A strategy to gain power
In a coup d'etat
With nomme de guerre ready
They advance unsteadily,
With a raison d'etre
And creme brulee
With their cafe au lait
Past the eau de toilette
They come vis a vis with a heretofore unknown quantity
The captain
In the heady hours since sinking
The passengers and crew weren't thinking
About who had piloted this doomed vessel
Into the opaque depths
That left them beset on all sides
By buckling metal
And sagging soufflés
But here he is
Romanov belly,
Habsburg jaw
Caligula mind
He strides towards the rebelling plebs
And docile slobs
With purpose in his missteps
And demands that hands are shaken
While being broken
And tied behind backs buckled
By the weight of ignorance
Suddenly, in the room
'The meaning of this is what?'
He announces rhetorically
To everyone
With his legs crossed as though
Needing to wee
Or trying to hide his boatswain's pipe
The gathered masses lower their heads
The band finally ceases to play
After five hours of orchestral covers of the songs of Drake
The captain sits
Seated on a crate
And makes ready to philosophize and deliberate
On the current situation
And impending fate
He looks steadily into wavering eyes
And gazes in particular at those of a child
He coughs once,
He seems to smile
Everyone waits on tenterhooks
Everyone from the waiters to the cooks
The accountants in their suits
To the skateboarders and models of shoes
And finally he raises his voice
In a baritone fit to soothe
He gives everyone their final choice
"We're all going to die you see,
So if you have money
Give it here and you can come
Die in luxury with me"
I wish I could say there is silence and hesitation
One moment of contemplation
But immediately there is a scramble
Fits of violation
Balled fists and torn clothes
And children trampled as rows and rows
Of people clamber
For the precious few
Places at the captain's table
Disregarded are the weak and disabled
in favor of the ruthless few
And on goes the bloody feud
As the ship fatally sinks
out of view
There's a LOT going on there, definitely worth reading a couple times so one can pick up something new each pass.
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