Beaten Back to the Bay

Drawn into the hopeful, multicolor-strewn dawn

Scarlet streaked with amber, arrayed dispelling of dark

Portent of perpetual promise, the callings of the lark

Secret unfathomed riches do new days forever spawn

Ushered away from safety, hearth’s comforting flame

Bravely does he bank into the stinging rising of the squall

Headlong into treasure or demise doth fortune-hunter fall

While a lack of good fortune the frightened forever blame

Nothing given nor granted, only killing cyclone can save

Only through the ravages and wreckage may risk prevail

Locked into the sheltered bay, cowards of pristine sail

Mast cracked, rigging ravaged, heroic spirit cannot cave

Recoiling cannons scratch his surface, cutlass cutting fights

Sun sinks back into Poseidon’s den, the frosty, callous sea

Buck up and back the bulwarks, sea monstrous company

Foolish faithfulness, adventure succumbing to numbing nights

Leg swallowed by the squid, black patch over plucked eye

Chest heaving, souring sickness, beating him back to land

Let me recuperate else perish, life’s lingering demand

Return to hearth and home, to eat, to rest, to refuse to die