XXXII

February 2, 2001.
The last male survivor of the sinking of the Titanic
Has died in Southern France.
He did not remember being afraid.
Why should he have been?
Cradled in a father’s embrace,
Still warm from sleep.
A father would never know that his boys,
Would one day be known only as Orphans
Of the Titanic
As children with no names-
But at least they lived.
At least they lived.

The hands of a ship that took so many
That left so many wasted,
That took the souls of the fathers
Of the mothers
Of the sons, the daughters
Left him-
Still warm from sleep

He lived to be 92 years old.