He was heaving in the wind and rain

Of the sea, around him.

Voices,

That rattled

Over the wash of the sea

And the rise of the wind,

Frantic voices

Terrified and pleading:

“Save our souls,

“God, in heaven

“Save us.”

Lifeboats were pitching in the waves,

And bodies,

Many of them already face down,

Were kept afloat by their life preservers,

Some corpses

Butted against the sides

Of the lifeboats

That were jumbled together

In the surrounding sea.

~ DE BA. UE

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