"lifeboat" poems
I will love you no matter how many mistakes I make when trying to reduce fractions, and no matter how difficult it is to memorize the periodic table. I will love you as the manatee loves the head of lettuce and as the dark spot loves the leopard, as the leech loves the ankle of a wader and as a corpse loves the beak of a vulture. I will love you as the iceberg loves the ship, and the passengers love the lifeboat and the lifeboat loves the teeth of the ***** whale, and the ***** whale loves the flavor of naval uniforms. I never want to be away from you again, except at work, in the restroom or when one of us is at a movie the other does not want to see.
I will love you as we find ourselves farther and farther from one another, where we once were so close that we could slip the curved straw, and the long, slender spoon, between our lips and fingers respectively. I will love you until the chances of us running into one another slip from slim to zero, and until your face is fogged by distant memory, and your memory faced by distant fog, and your fog memorized by a distant face, and your distance distanced by the memorized memory of a foggy fog. I will love you no matter where you go and who you see, no matter where you avoid and who you don’t see, and no matter who sees you avoiding where you go. I will love you no matter what happens to you, and no matter how I discover what happens to you, and no matter what happens to me as I discover this, and no matter how I am discovered after what happens to me as I am discovering this.
I will love you as a drawer loves a secret compartment, and as a secret compartment loves a secret, and as a secret loves to make a person gasp, and as a gasping person loves a glass of brandy to calm their nerves, and as a glass of brandy loves to shatter on the floor, and as the noise of glass shattering loves to make someone else gasp, and as someone else gasping loves a nearby desk to lean against, even if leaning against it presses a lever that loves to open a drawer and reveal a secret compartment. I will love you until all such compartments are discovered and opened, and until all the secrets have gone gasping into the world.
I will love you as misfortune loves orphans, as fire loves innocence, and as justice loves to sit and watch while everything goes wrong.
I will love you if I never see you again, and I will love you if I see you every Tuesday.
Strange as it may seem, I still hope for the best, even though the best, like an interesting piece of mail, so rarely arrives, and even when it does it can be lost so easily.
Life will never end when you are in it.”
Apr 25, 2014
Apr 25, 2014 at 1:30 PM UTC
We were west of the Azores,
Five days out of New York,
when we spotted the Mary Celeste.
She was listing to Leeward
But still under sail
with no obvious sign of distress.
Briggs, Her captain, I knew
as a man good and true
And his shipmates
were capable men.
We hailed, but no answer,
So I send men aboard
To find out what had become of them.
Her cargo intact, just one lifeboat gone
And a rope that trailed aft in the sea.
Something had caused them
To abandon their ship
but why was a mystery to me.
There are storms on the Ocean
As winter draws near;
A sea grave was his crew's likely fate
Or else they were drifting
Ever farther from shore
with nothing to eat on their plates.
I gave thanks to God’s grace
that cold, indifferent Fate’s
bony fingers had not touched on me
and I wept for my friends
of the Mary Celeste
who would never
come home from the sea.
Aug 18, 2014
Aug 18, 2014 at 11:49 AM UTC
It's my lifeboat
that floats
center stage in the
opaque green, mucky lake.
It glistens and gleams
As its diamond eyes
stare into mine
and ****** me;
further manipulating my senses.
The lake speaks in sonnets,
admitting truths of love and desire.
It cannot live without me,
for I have always managed to make its life more "hectic in the best way possible"
-a forbidden love.
"One day we will find a way to be together", it says.
"One day you and I may become one."
I need the lake, for it has always managed to find me peace.
Sincerely yours,
Curtis
Sep 30, 2015
Sep 30, 2015 at 12:04 AM UTC
Water lapped up the side of the lifeboat
as it bobbed up and down on the sea
only seven ****** had survived
the rest had gone under and drowned
The first officer and the stoker
lent over a fellow ******
he was coughing up oil
and in unbearable pain, was screaming
The stoker mumbled, He's not got long
then he started to sob in his hands bitterly
they had been torpedoed by a U Boat
a day and three quarters out of Italy
The coughing then stopped
the ****** was dead
so they said a little prayer
then tipped him over the edge
By Christos Andreas Kourtis aka NeonSolaris
Oct 30, 2013
Oct 30, 2013 at 10:11 PM UTC
What exactly does closure feel like?
I'm not really sure because
the days I felt my first heartache
like a bullet to my chest
I cried for a week straight then got over it-
I had so many friends, I never cared to love again.
I was never really sure how to close the open door
the day my grandma died my mind went blank.
So I drank away the pain until the images
of her cancer ridden body faded away.
How do you cope when at the same time
you see your grandmother die
you remember these horrors
from your childhood of someone ripping away
your innocence.
I haven't been the same since.
So now what's left?
I have left the one I love
with a heavy heart
and no closure to console me.
I just feel as if I am drifting
slowly and without a lifeboat
no paddle in merky waters
with a windstorm that won't quit.
But I feel at peace
like the calm before the storm
that realizes it will be sunny one day again soon.
So how will closure console this empty soul?
I've never really felt that feeling before.
Closure is a ******* step child to me-
just an extra sock that can't find a match.
A newly lit match burning out too fast
never to be used again.
A bowl filled with resin
when all you need is one ******* hit.
Closure is a seesaw with no one at the other end to help-
you're on your own adventure
and you only venture from the usual path.
It's a road you walk alone-
barefoot upon rocks that have been shaped from struggle.
Closure is the progression into solitude.
So how do I get closure from you?
How do these hands feel okay again
not holding on to yours-
how does my bed feel whole again
without you next to me.
I'm not sure quite yet-
but one day I will see.
Closure is an empty room
before a dance recital
it's a preconcert soundcheck
and everyday anxiety.
The nights are worse than the days
and I've come to grips with feeling this way.
I hope one day to feel okay.
I know one day I will feel okay-
because today, I feel pretty okay.
Jun 2, 2015
Jun 2, 2015 at 12:25 PM UTC
"Unsinkable"
was a myth;
which no-one ever said.
But she was beautiful,
the most advanced,
the biggest,
the "floating city",
the greatest ever made.
This magnificent vessel
which slipped out
from Harland and Wolff,
it cannot be denied,
was a fine symbol,
of hard work
and Irish pride.
****************************
That fateful night
truly was
a night to remember.
A night of heroes,
as men willingly
threw their lives away,
that women and children,
may live another day.
A night of heroines,
as women
gave up their lives
to stay with their men
as lovers and wives.
A night of honour
as Thomas Andrews,
whom Titanic designed,
and Captain Smith, stayed,
to their fates resigned.
A night of cowardice,
as J Bruce Ismay,
took a lifeboat place;
from a woman or child
stealing a space.
A night of tragedy
as more than 1500 died,
and of miracles,
that so many survived.
*******************************
One hundred years on.
RMS Titanic lies
broken on the sea bed.
At peace, in pieces,
she lies there
as broken as the dreams
of those who built her.
The survivors
who numbered 700 and more,
have now joined
all those who went before.
But Titanic,
gives new life today,
as she is being eaten away,
In bizarre irony,
this beautiful lady,
who caused death and strife,
is now teeming with life.
Microscopic life
feasting on this tomb
has sealed her doom;
as into the mighty hull they bore,
By 2030
Titanic will be no more.
Gone
but not forgotten,
neither Her or her victims;
that no-one can deny.
The great RMS Titanic
shall not
cannot
ever wholly die.
Apr 15, 2012
Apr 15, 2012 at 6:05 PM UTC
Feeling good is:
Greeting a stranger with a smile,
Chatting with your elderly neighbor's,
And treating them with care and compassion.
Soothing another's pain,
Feeding hungry stomachs,
Standing with the oppressed,
Rendering service to others for no return.
Exploring a new idea,
Enriching your knowledge,
Reflecting and pondering,
Planting the seeds of positive change.
Listening to the whispers of love,
Inspiring the next generation,
Being around intelligent people,
Enjoying the company of soft-hearted friends.
Restoring people's shattered dreams,
Be their candle and their lifeboat,
Listening to the cries of innocent souls,
And showing them the way to a new dawn.
Lifting the spirit of the broken-hearted,
Delivering them through a helping hand,
Dressing your soul in a garment of giving.
Lifting your voice to be the champion of the forgotten.
Counting your blessings,
Reciting your prayers,
Contemplating the universe,
Listening to nature’s songs with muted words.
Hussein Dekmak
Aug 8, 2021
Aug 8, 2021 at 1:05 PM UTC
Faces only remind you of
How lonely you are,
You say you've swam too far
Into the sea of your regrets
That I am your lifeboat
But didn't you hear
I sank long, long ago?
You've been searching
For a new home,
One that doesn't creak
Or shudder at night.
But homes are not people
And your voice cracks
As you point out
There's a welcome mat
By the front door
But I never answer
When you knock.
It's been a while since
I started attracting
Strangers with flashlights
To search me like
A haunted place.
I finally realized they
Were the ones that
Needed scaring away.
It's so odd to think,
You once told me
You saw beauty
In clifftops,
And I thought you
Were talking about
The view.
Apr 15, 2016
Apr 15, 2016 at 11:22 AM UTC
ever since my childhood broke and the safety net disintegrated
I've been running and holding it high above, arms aching
in a futile attempt to stop things falling through
woven seams. Sometimes it works and I stare up,
neck burning, to the things I cannot touch.
I do not look down to the debris scattered around me,
to the failures of my braced shoulders, slipping through like water;
impacting like stones.
once I caught a fisherman; he threaded silver secrets
through twine using smiles and sympathy and I lowered my arms, to keep him alongside. There were some places he couldn't reach but
that was ok, because we ran for an eternity ensnared in each second.
it was a particularly beautiful day when I noticed him slowing,
staring out to sea, steps faltering and new smiles forming that
were not faced to me. He left me and dived headfirst, forgetting that
fisherman cannot swim. He drowned as I ran on, arms outstretched
above me as the net danced in the wind and everything fell through.
I have never stopped, never ceased these thundering steps;
my eyes are still turned to the sky, the holes in my net cast
beautiful shadows and through them I see the stars and wait impatient
for the night when they too fall.
Mar 31, 2015
Mar 31, 2015 at 10:52 AM UTC
It wasn't my place to tell you;
I've been sinking ships since I can remember,
Each home washed up on someone else's shore.
This was before you wrapped me a lifeboat
And said, *"darling, don't wait for the rain to pour,
As winds may change and skies may grey
But this ships not wrecked, its here to stay"*.
Apr 1, 2015
Apr 1, 2015 at 7:11 AM UTC
your untouched sheets are crisp and clean like a razor
your vacant pillow floats on the bed before me like an empty lifeboat
the absence of your breath is deafening
you left me Nothing and now it is all i have
i will cling to it
i will nurture it
i will feed it with what is left of me
until it grows strong enough to consume me
then i will be free of the Nothing you left to me
Oct 27, 2010
Oct 27, 2010 at 10:38 AM UTC
I put you on a lifeboat and watched you sail safely through,
As I drowned in the ice cold waters thinking about you.
I've struggled and faught to keep my head afloat
In hopes that you'll come back for me in your little lifeboat.
We did our best to avoid the iceberg, or so I like to think
But being the Titanic we were doomed, bound to sink.
And we broke so quickly, like it was out of the blue.
Turns out love isn't a strong enough glue.
So here I swim in the freezing sea of sorrow
Hoping to find warmth in a better tomorrow.
I can try to pretend, pretend that I'm not sinking,
But all the while I can't stop myself from thinking.
Thinking that if I can just stay afloat for a while
You'll come sailing by in your little lifeboat with a smile.
But you won't come, you've already reached dry land.
So I struggle for my life, for anyone to lend their hand.
I can only hope that hand comes before I freeze.
Oh Lord, send me my own little lifeboat, please.
12/17/13
Jun 11, 2016
Jun 11, 2016 at 11:10 PM UTC
you told me fear was an illusion made by the devil
to impair our lives and blur our vision
now all i see are flames of fear and my body is burning in temperatures of hell.
i never thought i would use the topic of drowning in a poem
i would always complain about the girls who wrote they were drowning in depression
when their serotonin levels were doing just fine
or the girls who said someone drowned them after breaking the lifeboat of love,
when they can pick themselves up if they use their muscles
but you are the reason i am drowning for the first time,
the cliche, stupid, senseless drowning topic,
you are drowning me in security and structure and formality
i am asphyxiating with security up to my throat, almost vomiting up words of rebellion because of constant confinement
i would rather drown in the ocean because i know there are treasures and unmet species, no restrictions.
i would fill my lungs with the mistakes you don't want me to make because it would give me substance
i would refuse to cough them up just so i could stay underwater without you shoving your beliefs down my throat
you are drowning me in repeating stories about mistakes that are not even mine, you are drowning me with rules, brain washing my mind.
you are stuffing stereotypes into my ears, talking about races, outer images and superficiality.
yes i know genesis and revelation, yes i know matthew, mark, luke and john, maybe you forgot how Luke wrote we shouldn't judge,
and i don't know if you remember how often you **** plants by over watering them.
i told you those plants were teenagers, they had to be left alone, you're drowning everything around you while getting water in your brain too, you're forgetting what its like to float,
probably because you never learned how to properly since you were a little girl
please don't drown me any longer
i don't want to drown people too
Mar 14, 2015
Mar 14, 2015 at 5:21 PM UTC
Maybe I've been out here
For close to half a year;
Or more
Adrift
Floating
If you lay on your back
(Like I have done)
You'd see that the waves
Have a pattern -
Not
Just up-and-down.
I haven't done it in a while but,
Sometimes I muster up the courage
To look into the water.
It's crystal clear usually
(My reflection is odd but endearing.)
Other times
The giant shadowy blackness
Saunters deep down in the clarity.
Out of the blue
Sometimes, I'll watch a tail fin
Circle my lifeboat.
Entranced by it's wake
I watch the sea-demon of the deep
Until it leaves.
Jun 10, 2012
Jun 10, 2012 at 8:34 PM UTC
her vision hovers the waters,
with hands aquivered and acquainted
to the sticks and stones that resided under
and beneath the seabed
her mind floats like a lifeboat
of words yet helpless and taciturn,
she remains silent for the rest of the trip
but her eyes are more than the reaching arms,
she is a lifehouse, a tower
to each and every one of them
anything but an overshadower,
a breather of hope and endearment
(n.j.)
Jul 2, 2016
Jul 2, 2016 at 11:18 AM UTC
Went for a cruise on the maiden ship Titanic,
A wonderful ship everyone said would be epic
I was not scared because it was unsinkable
To be in fear would for me be unthinkable
Wanted to sail far away to another land
Where my life, I think could be quite grand
Unpacking my suitcase in a luxurious liner
This is the one yacht that could not be finer.
Passengers enjoyed dinner, dancing, and other entertainments.
All the days of the trip they would enjoy the embellishments
I heard that people like Astor, Guggenheim Straus, Thayer and Gordon
Would be on this ship including Stead, Fulrelle, Gibson and Morgan
On April 14, 1912 I was that evening returning to my room
Walking down the corridor I heard a deafening boom
Went to find an RMS crew member
When I was told on deck to assemble
He handed me a life jacket just in case
And to get in the lifeboat because there was space
Passengers were lowered down by the crew
The first little boat had just a few
A man started quickly paddling our tiny boat
Once far away he stopped and we would just float
Everyone watched as we heard screaming, crying and yelling
Amongst the chaos we heard music and saw the flares flying
In the early hours of April 15, the ship’s lights flickered out and then went straight up vertical
We all heard the moans of the iron and watched it break in half and it sank uncontrollable
From quite a distance I saw an ocean of people
Out in the middle of the sea, no one felt hopeful
Soon there was no sound
As we all looked around
Shivering crying and wondering
If we are going to live or die pondering
published in the Crawfordsville, Indiana newspaper
Copyright 2013
All Rights Reserved
Nov 20, 2013
Nov 20, 2013 at 3:55 PM UTC
Because,
He fell for the red on her cigarette,
Her breath on floating dandelions,
The eyelash on her cheek,
The stretchmarks on her thighs,
The little hairs on her belly,
The way her eyebrows don't perfectly match,
The way she loved dogs more than children,
The way she stares at tree leaves swaying.
He fell for her as a whole
Not the way others had before,
And she, did not care.
She constantly fell in the sea
Of arms, that has haunted
Since her eyes began to see lust.
Drowning endlessly,
Knowing he would send her a lifeboat.
Jul 11, 2015
Jul 11, 2015 at 11:56 AM UTC
Men of Reason: bold, progressive
hammer wielders, depth resounders –
shout from the helm your Godless missive
as our Bible-lifeboat flounders.
Send that Flying Spaghetti Monster,
our imaginary friend,
to the myth-conception dumpster:
let the Bronze Age folktales end.
Make the idols bow to Science.
Your progressive task: to mock –
seek that end in brave defiance.
Down with the shepherd’s useless flock !
Laser-focused human reason
serves to clarify the matter,
strips the symbols from the season,
superstitious tales to shatter.
We, mere rubes in need of crutches,
simple children, willing tools –
must be rescued from the clutches
of the fables preached to fools.
Seamless garments, bushes burning:
are but schemes for fleecing sheep…
We are plebes devoid of learning;
rouse our silly souls from sleep!
Flood us with your noontide wisdom
decimate the weaker link.
Blow away our card-house kingdom
show us Christards how to think.
Then, like you, we shall no longer
cling to ignorance and lies.
Missing links make chains yet stronger,
dragging fairies from the skies.
We shall join you in assurance
that there is no great beyond
thus no need for fire insurance
clergy, staff or magic wand.
We shall celebrate together
joyful, freed from superstition
endless, godless sunny weather:
non-existent non-perdition.
Having thus improved the light
and magnified Man’s modern day,
God’s angels will expire in fright;
the Lord shall meekly fade away.
Sep 9, 2015
Sep 9, 2015 at 8:34 PM UTC
There was a time when we were strangers;
ships that passed in the cover of night.
We sailed parallel those lonely waters
not knowing that soon we'd be in sight.
There was a time when we were friends;
you wished only to reach the shore,
but my compass was spinning, our journey just beginning
and so I took you aboard.
There was a time when we were lovers,
but our ship soon started to leak.
We battened the hatches, bailing her out,
but hopes were battered and meek.
An unspoken pact and a final kiss,
letting you drift from my fingertips.
I readied the very last lifeboat,
but the captain goes down with the ship.
Strangers become lovers and lovers become strangers
through sailing the seas of time,
but this mariners tragedy's worth the memories
of when I called you mine.
Jul 3, 2017
Jul 3, 2017 at 11:10 PM UTC
To read or watch movies, that is the question.
When tired at workday's end, depressed about death's
certainty and my recent surgery
unable to contribute purpose
i.e., figure out whether to bomb Iran
or worship Krshna
and other gods such as Homer gives us in the Iliad
I lack vision therefore I choose television.
Chemistry text, bifurcated plant key
esp. grasses, intro to calculus, physics
unopened time slides by inexorably.
That's the dilemma with no resolution,
drooping rachis, striations on the lemma.
Dying chooses you. You don't choose dying.
So go slow as the day will allow.
The cancer patient's real work is facing
harsh realities and making adjustments:
getting the most out of life, considering
what his children will need after he's gone,
preparing his wife, parents, colleagues and friends,
and completing important professional tasks.
Get the most out of life. That's all God asks.
In Life of Pi the tiger is tiresome, short-sighted
eating everything in sight today, no plan for tomorrow.
The boy, however, is beautiful, reading
the lifeboat manual, building a resting place on the ocean
from oars and life vests, writing about his emotions,
loneliness and observations. The tiger's obsession
with killing keeps our boy alive with fear,
an aphrodisiac, a distraction from any hint
of hopelessness. And then there is the ultimate unknown,
the boy's conversations with Krshna which explain
the innumerable stars and their gentle glow.
Oct 20, 2015
Oct 20, 2015 at 7:47 AM UTC
There's a storm coming baby,
We can feel it in our bones
Life's waves crash around us
Making me afraid we'll lose balance
In this salty war zone.
But you say, "don't worry sweetheart,
You're always safe with me"
So I sit with you, my sailor, on our lifeboat
With nothing but an umbrella
And the sunshine in your eyes
Flowers between my toes
And the warmth you make with a sigh
That never seems to get lost in the wind.
May 9, 2013
May 9, 2013 at 10:04 AM UTC
swimming in currents,
water dark as our Shadows,
there’s a war going on outside,
and inside we all have our own battles,
don’t know who to trust,
just need someone I can trust,
lost at sea it seems life’s but a dream,
and I’m sailing through on my lifeboat,
I hope,
this lifeboat can find a lifeguard,
because I feel like a criminal that’s escaped prison,
and now I’m living larger than life at large,
like I’m not hiding,
but people don’t see me,
even when I’m out here shining,
or occasionally when I’m on the TV,
see she,
is my Lifeguard,
guarding me to her life,
she protects me from my Darkness,
with the Love of her Light,
swimming fearlessly through the Seven Seas,
by my side she rides relentlessly,
she’s my Lifeguard she’s my Lighthouse,
upon my rock she shines luminescently,
she shows trust in our Divine Nature,
she is what’s better when we’re together,
she is the grass that’s greener the weather that’s clearer,
and every moment together with her feels like forever,
even though we both know nothing lasts forever,
everyone goes eventually,
evidentially,
she is certainly a site to behold,
how could someone be so modest,
and at the same time so bold,
to hold,
and to have,
to love,
and to laugh,
she loves me unconditionally,
never mad,
always happy,
forever sad,
rays of sunlight shine in like insight,
on me from her whenever I’m feeling down,
she shows up just in time to save my life,
grabbing my hand just as I’m about to drown,
more stamina than Pamela she’s an Angel a Savior,
she’s my own personal hero,
she is my Lifeguard,
always watching facing fear without fear so,
I offer her my everything,
indebted gratitude to her like a Samurai,
and yeah even though we’re both socialites,
we prefer when it’s just us as in her and I,
and I know this world is a dangerous place,
but as long as we have each other we will survive,
because she is my lifeguard my lifeboat my lightforce,
she is my lighthouse guiding me home with her loving light…
∆ Aaron La Lux ∆
Jun 26, 2018
Jun 26, 2018 at 2:19 AM UTC
You left me out,
in the deep waters to drown
and I learnt how to swim.
So,
don't think that you'll now throw me a lifeboat
and it will count as saving.
Jan 21, 2016
Jan 21, 2016 at 9:16 AM UTC
☆
*"Our sweet children, where have you been?
We're waiting for you outward the ingress,
Admitting : you nowhere were seen
As you are: each — an enraptured princess!"
☆
Vivacious shades on your ethno coat
Emphasise your femininity;
Bastet at heart — best childrens lifeboat!
Spacey gray cap: fairish and witty —
☆
It suits you — dear darling — shared hugs
Of wellcome! Lively, charming's your gaze
As young Notre~Dame; and blue scarabs
Are lit on your kind fortunate face.
☆
The theatre lady, the dreamer,
The writer, the thinker, you're teacher,
Performer, a woman, protector
Creator, great mother, old friend!*
Apr 5, 2015
Apr 5, 2015 at 5:28 PM UTC