A Report On The Sinking Of Another Raptor Patrol-Boat (English Sonnet) Poem by Gert Strydom

While a Bayraktar drone sank two patrol-boats,
another patrol boat was asking air-support,
got commands to tow a ship where it floats,
while the sailor begged for help from the port,

from the Crimean Naval Command, for jets:
'81 this is 85 where is the Russian air-force? '
Tow the other boats was the answer he gets.
'Everything burns, to you I have set coarse,

82 and 83 are both aflame and do sink.
How long have the fighters been gone? How long?
The Bayraktar is high to track, I think.
It's is still tracking and coming along.'

The boat tries to race away with the tide.
In horror: 'It has fired a missile wide.'
[Poet's note: This conversation comes from the radio communication between a mariner on the Russian Raptor patrol boat and the commanding officer at the Crimean Naval base.]