we watched the ship sink
from a rickety life boat
in the middle of the night.
we had no captain,
no oars,
and nowhere to go.
we floated around, aimlessly,
for several days and several nights.
we were sunburned,
starving, and few in number.
those we lost we left on board,
if only as a reminder
(but for no reason at all.)
when i and the other survivors
were prepared to give up,
a small patch of land came into sight.
we used our arms to slowly, but surely,
row ourselves to shore.
knowing this was our only chance at life,
we sent the lifeboat full of lost chances back out to sea.