The Captain

"Captain, will you lead us to the promised land,
Deliver us through the oceans to the white sand?
We want to live in a land of the free.
We do not fear the troubles at sea!"

All sixty-three pack our things and board the ship
Say our prayers and so begins our trip.
Though we're nervous we still rejoice
We know in our hearts we made the right choice.

His whiskers untrimmed, his flesh a crimson hue,
His clothes stained, and his teeth blue.
He frequently drinks from his silver flask,
And answers any questions we may ask.

He is our Captain, and we shall see,
If we can ever truly flee
Our hellish home in favour of the new.
“We pledge our allegiance as your loyal crew.”

Through storm and illness, cold and heat,
Through thirst and hunger with nothing to eat,
He is our Captain, through and through,
And we our his loyal and trusting crew!

Little Tommy sea sick with the worst,
But frail Angela becomes the ship's first.
We toss her corpse into the sea,
And soon after we have to let little Tommy go free.

The numbers go down each passing day,
But our Captain promises we're sailing the right way.
Through death and tears with fewer and few,
We are our his loyal and trusting crew!

At night the wind roars angry and awake,
And during the day our pale faces bake.
The Captain keeps saying, "One more week,
Keep your head up, don't look so bleak."

Another month passes by, the lucky souls to be alive,
Are a sobering twenty-five.
Whispers spread more and more,
Will we ever set foot on the shore?

One brave soul confronts the man we follow.

He asks, “How many more people must the waves swallow?
When will we turn around,
If our paradise is never found?”

The Captain frowns and orders him away,
And no one sees him the following day.
The young are hungry but we have nothing left to chew,
We are a worried and weakened crew.

All hope seems lost at the sea,
Perhaps we were never meant to be free.
Each day the mutiny grows stronger
Not many folks can hold out any longer.

We corner the Captain and raise our fists,
But he continues to tirelessly insist,

“Our journey is almost at it's end!
Our paradise is one dawn away, my friends.”

We throw our Captain over the edge,
And silently stare at the sea below the the ledge.

He was our Captain, now deep in the blue,
And we our his doomed and dying crew.

Reviews

[africa]

This is such a clever thing you have written here. Well done. Excellent indeed.

[bluessadmood]

Ohh this was so nicely written ,i followed so close
i thought your captain and your crew almost made it
through and through..never thought for a second this will turn this bad
those who were insistent always made it
its a surprise how things could take a different turn
but maybe you had other things in mind
on whole i really loved your journey
i almost felt like i was on board too
lovely write..