Sindbad The Sailor - Voyage 2 Poem by Shankaran Kutty

I had thought after that voyage then
That it would be my first and last
The rest of my life would be in Baghdad
And that voyage, a dark spot in my past

But weary had I grown so soon
In a passage of life, indolent
So when a call I got a second time
Quickly did I relent

We sailed across the ocean blue
Till we reached an island green
With orchards and hills and valleys
Meadows and brooks, most beautiful seen

I settled down between two tall trees
With food and a bottle of wine
As a cool breeze blew across the sea
I felt the whole world was mine

A thunder clap in the distant skies
Woke me up from my sleep
The ship was gone, I was alone
All around, the blue ocean deep

I cried out loud, beat my breast
Was ready to die with grief
As slowly trudged across the meadow
Quickly ebbed my belief

And suddenly, in front emerged so large
A structure so smooth and round
No rock, no hill, nothing I knew
Took fifty paces to walk around

Worried, I stood on that unknown land
As a shadow loomed over the green
I looked up to see a bird so huge
The biggest, in life I have ever seen

So it was its egg that I saw
It was no unknown rock
I ran and hid below the egg
Of the bird, the mariners call Roc.

The bird came and perched itself
Near me was its gigantic leg
I took my turban and tied myself
To its feet, as it sat on its egg

Next day morn I woke to find
The Roc had taken to the skies
Higher and higher it went until
The land vanished from my eyes

I lost my senses from which I woke
When the bird landed with a thud
I quickly untied myself and rolled
Away through the slush and mud

It picked up a serpent which itself was
So big that it could easily swallow
An elephant, then what chance I stood
I was sure I wouldn’t the morrow

The place was filled with diamonds big
And stones I couldn’t keep count
But infinite were they, big and small
Strewn across the ground

Also filled with snakes indeed
Was that canyon with walls so steep
I climbed up on to a ledge so high
Yet through the night I couldn’t sleep

I woke next day to a rainy sound
Of something being pelted down
I saw the ground was covered with
Buffalo meat, dark reddish brown

A giant eagle soon hovered over
And swooped down to have its fill
And carried back huge chunks in its claws
And a snake in its pointed bill

And stuck below the pieces of flesh
Were many a precious stone
Which the traders climbing on to the nests
Would then claim as their own

I knew, for escape here was a chance
I had no time to pause
The next bird that swooped for its food
I jumped and held on to its claws.

As the bird flew hard and high over the canyon,
In spite of the burning pain
I held on to my bags filled with diamonds
My suffering shouldn’t go in vain

The bird then left me more dead than alive
High up on a date palm tree
And the traders who climbed to collect their stones
Were the ones who then saved me.

I laboured back to my hometown then
Had become so weak and pale
Enough wealth for a generation or two
No more would I set sail

Thus did end my voyage two
Filled with birds, snakes, diamonds and more
But come my friend, be my guest
For the morrow, you will hear stories more