when the clinker fails
in the boards of your heart
when the gunnells dip
and you lose your chart

when you sail alone
through the seas of steel
when your sails are drowned
by a broken keel

when the wind dies
and your spirit's corrupted
when you inch ahead
with your pace obstructed

when the will to fight
is made weak by thirst
when your clothes are skin
and your hope is cursed

when you reach your end
and you are still alive
when ascending angels
turn to birds and dive

when the clouds part
and you see God divine
when all shapes of memory
dim to a line

when you fight to retain
the metallic of blood
when the last of your senses depart for the mud

when the comfort of death
tempts like a liar
when the last thing you own
is belligerent fire

when the heart of darkness
offers his hand
when you can't see heaven
the sky or the strand

when you see him smirk
with his ancient sigh
you ferociously snarl
and tear out his eye