Retired Sea Master Poem by Jan Oskar Hansen

Retired Sea Master.
Brilliant sun, cold wind from the Atlantic I’m standing outside
the hotel by the car while my wife is arguing with the staff,
apparently we had been overcharged but I had already paid
the bill and they were reluctant to return the money.
I felt guilty too many beers last night, this morning doing
a blood test my hands trembled and I spilt blood on the sheet.
I was standing there wanting a beer, but I was the driving,
it is a long drive, and my wife gets nervous on the motorway.
She came out they had paid her ten Euros to avert a scandal
as a bus full of Danish tourists were pulling up, mostly old
couples. When I asked if they were fleeing Denmark because
of the shooting troubles in Copenhagen I got angry looks,
my joke had fallen flat, and I decided never again
telling a joke unless it was against me, but I’m not funny
just an ordinary man who tries not to drink during the day
and also in the evening when I try work.
So you call this work? Yes, it is I’m telling it just the way it
is not trying to be a hero or someone famous,
just the day in the life of a nobody who used to be listened to
when he was a captain on a cargo ship.