The Castaway
A slight change of course.
I have crossed through the maelstroms
of an uncharted sea,
to be cast, derelict, on these shores;
In the swales I was baptized
and told Faith was my key,
while her Priests changed the locks on her doors.
I was spit out like Jonah
at the footsteps of Hell,
as a bile-covered thief I emerged;
And through Dante’s Inferno,
(Daniel prophesied well)
at the sound of the trump I was purged.
“Avast!”, harped the Preacher,
to the psaltery’s tune,
“Ye have shipwrecked upon Holy Land.
For a prayer, and a tithe
of ten Spanish doubloons,
I will bless thee with laying of hands.”
Singing:
Yo,ho! Jehovah, to Thee!
Cast away all that ye love!
Yo, ho! Cross over the sea,
Castaways all, from above!
Then said I to the Preacher,
“For a tenth of my yield,
on the Isles of the Blest I should dwell;
In the splendor of Hades,
upon Elysian Fields,
I’d be snatched from this heaven-sent hell.
“Persephone my maiden,
Achilles ‘neath my heel;
For what cause would I have to lament?
And which god would they summon
when the Bells of Hell pealed,
to announce this most blessed event?
“In the Land of Oblivion
I would be as a god,
sailing over the Underworld seas;
All the rich would be beggars
in the poor Land of Nod,
and the Priests would all do as I please.”
Singing:
Woe, woe, Jehovah, to Thee!
Cast away all you believed!
Land ho! Cross over the sea,
Castaways all, ye deceived!
“Set a feast!”, called the Preacher,
“Pour a measure of wine,
kill the fattest of calves for our guest.
Summon Faith to our table,
make her his concubine;
Put our wayfaring friend to the test.”
Now the Priests took their places
in the choicest of seats,
and they drank themselves drunk with disdain;
then they supped with abandon
on the finest of meats,
til what fell from their forks but remained.
I took Faith to my bosom
on the banquet hall floor,
Seven harpists and flutists kept time;
Holding closely, then loosely,
changing partners galore,
in a three-quarter time pantomime.
Singing:
Di-de-di Diamonds, emeralds and gold!
Cast away pearls before swine!
Li-la-li Lies and, the stories we’ve told!
Castaways all, yours and mine!
Then I stood at the table
and addressed the Triune -
The Preacher, the High Priest and my Faith:
“You have made me a banquet,
rich and brightly festooned;
Yet am I as you found me, a wraith.
Here a feast lay before me,
though my portion was gruel,
as the Priests were all filled to content;
Now the air fills my nostrils
with the incense of fools,
and this stench you dare call Heaven’s scent.
“I have dined with your clergy,
I have danced with your Faith;
and adhered to your customs and laws.
I have found them all wanting
for a measure of grace,
toward a man set aground by his flaws.
By what measure is meet,
or what fate I have earned;
to feast or to dance, who can say?
But as tides of the sea
and these tables are turned,
Know ye this: we are all castaway."
Singing:
Yo! Ho! All shipmates are we!
Cast away into the haze!
Land Ho! Cross over the sea!
Castaways, all of our days!
Please login or register
You must be logged in or register a new account in order to
Login or Registerleave comments/feedback and rate this poem.