Confession Poem by jan oskar hansen

Confession.

Winter storm 1974, a supply vessel gets motor stop near
the sandy shores of Denmark where spindrift makes it
hard to see it is like being snow blind. We are together on
the bridge with life jackets on, the skipper, a religious man
asks us to sing a psalm we reluctantly do. Gripped by
the moment the first officer shouts: ” Forgive me God for
I have sinned.” We are spared the rest, as the old chief
gets the engine started again and the magic of the moment
evaporates leaving behind embarrassment as we head for
the open sea which is the best place to be in a storm, if not
safely anchored in a bay. That evening there was laughter
in the mess-hall, I knew why, as so does the first officer
who, for the rest of the voyage, eats in my galley, and tries
to be as unobserved as it is possible to be on a small ship.