Amputation Poem by Jan Oskar Hansen

Amputation

The second cook was in the store room cutting open a crate of prunes,
he used an axe to open it I heard the screams but cowardly continued
to make meat cakes boiling cabbage and cooking potatoes.
He came running into the galley to show me his missing finger, it was
an odd moment I noticed he could have cleaned his nail, but it was
a struggle to get him to a have a shower.
I told him to see the first officer he would bandage his hand and in a few
Days, he could go into hospital in Suez. He was reluctant to part with his
index finger so he gave it to me I cleaned the nail just in case the captain
comes to have a look I wrapped the finger in a towel. He sat in his cabin
crying, ok, to lose a finger is no joke but those endless tears.
Later I learned that the stewardess a tarty looking girl was sleeping with
one of the deck hands she continued to do so his sacrifice came too little.
Worst of all when the ship came back from a place called
Ras Tanura- Saudi Arabia- he came back onboard again to get a voyage
home and his cabin was next door to his former girlfriend`s