---

Nailed, for days, upon the main

For weeks, I trow, stood still the vane

The searing heat left our crew frail

As puppets sagged under futile sails

God, why hast thou forsaken us?

Have our prayers not reached thy skies?

Oh, wilt thou not awaken us

from this nightmare of arid cries?

Weathered, parched by the sulf’rous sun

To breathe is pain when hope is gone

My thoughts crawl as slowly as the slime

I last had supped from the fetid brine

God, why hast thou forsaken us?

Have our prayers not reached thy skies?

Oh, wilt thou not awaken us

from this nightmare of arid cries?

A man must eat, a man must drink

a man will act, pushed to the brink

Despair dictates to dodge decay

thus the weaker beast be the stronger’s prey

All thoughts of God and justice shrink

as souls dissolve and bodies sink

In terror may pure angels gaze

as frenzied man doth man erase

Let your hails come down!

– We’ve shed all fear and spit right back

Let your tempests rage!

– A gentle breeze to a listless man

Let your thunders crack!

– Faint birdsong all that will die off

Let your maelstrom pull us towards our doom!

– Those set to perish laugh with spite

The dead are dancing on the deck

Their worn joints creak, their skulls nigh crack

The ghastly rhythms they perform

Assail my heart yet wake the storm

God, why hast thou forsaken us?

Have our prayers not reached thy skies?

Oh, wilt thou not awaken us

from this nightmare of arid cries?

God, we had strayed though calm would bind us

We have sinned in thought, word, deed

In your mercy kneeling find us

saddened, wizened, a contrite breed