A Lorelei’s Demise
by ryall Sunday, Sep 19 2010, 9:01pm
international / prose/poetry / literature

a haunted past/frightened
child peeks between the rocks
in awe and wonder at the sight.

a tall majestic ship cutting strong
silently
through a steady wind;
a truer course was never set
by any Captain.

from the tempestuous Horn
through
the dead calm
of the Sargasso Sea
she plies her magic trade,
a treasured cargo
for Kings and Queens.

beset by every
pirate treachery
and hostile clime
she surges steadily through
every manner of tribulation
and emerges unscathed,
her white sails billowing
in the tropical breeze.

naked island girls
swim from shore,
sparkling laughs and
smiling eyes
cohabit playfully
with the men.

their young breasts
and golden thighs
they offer (freely)
as the islands offer fruit.

only in (polluted) European
waters
do we encounter
fear and deception
yet the ship rides
every swell and treacherous sea;
with steady
helm fixed to stars
she maintains her course.

the Lorelei
frustrated
unable to lure
the ship to her demise
dash themselves
against her timber hull
until demented;
bereft of hypnotic song
they scurry back to shore
like rock rodents
and peek from between crevices
in awe,
frightened
by her tall
majestic masts
and nimbic white sails.

every trial engaged and overcome,
steady as she goes.

[the wreckage and bones
of those that attempt to avoid
(life’s) challenges
litter many lonely
shores.]