Memories of the Sailor: a Poem Inspired by Frozen in Time

Our heads held high in glory,

with three years of food we sailed

failure nags only weak minds.

Is this writing history?

A whaling ship waves farewell,

isolation settles in

the world turns to sheer whiteness.

Why am I feeling dreadful?

My toes are stiff in my boots,

the sense of touch has vanished

just like our shared giddy hope.

Where is the beloved Sun?

At home she is worrying,

confused about the voyage

of forever lost spirits.

Will the Arctic steal my soul?

We are trapped in Erebus,

Terror has left us frozen

following Franklin to Hell.

Save Us! Save us. Please save us?

The rats are eating the dead,

and we are eating the rats

society is a lie.

Free us from this icy doom?

Abandon the frozen ships,

our lives are worth more than them

perhaps the Inuit will help.

Were we destined for failure?

My body is stiffening,

the land is engulfing me

I will be Frozen in Time.

Give Mum, safe at home, my love?

What a perilous wasteland,

an empty void filled with pain

we have claimed a Hell on Earth.

Starve at the ships? Or starve here?

The crew is splitting their ways,

one half wants to just survive

the other won’t commit crimes.

So this God’s idea of love?

Their faces blackened by death,

beg for the sin of great feasts

of more than brotherly flesh.

Oh God! Get away from me!