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Captain Cannibal (Free verse) by Lenore
Murder!
Have you ever heard the like
As they always do in stories of a shipwreck found at night?
Where survivors are floating for days on a raft;
I remember the ghastly bits on the mast
Where the last surviving sailor had helped eat the whole crew;
He claimed he was the captain it was a good joke too,
Depends on whoâs the victim;
The point of view counts for a heap in such things,
Youâd laugh yourself sick to know what it brings
Starvation holds water better than your boat,
When every plump and tender sailor keeps your stomach afloat
No roast albatross for dinner
For they gave you the slip,
Your only choice left,
Potluck or the dip
All that last night,
He sailed upon sluggish water,
Covered with rotting flesh,
Rank and stagnant pools of seamen
Whispered by ghosts of dead comrades
Carried on moonlit currents,
All the water black with blood and shadow,
Drifting westward homeward bound
He came so near to broken, but his soul would not sink down
Though he killed them as they lay there,
And gnawed upon their bones,
The tide of might had risen and brought him safely home
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