The Journey Across The Night Sea Poem by Daniel Brick

from A Barge Mysterious
byEmmanuel George Cefai

A barge mysterious in the thick of night
Sailed slowly to the sober shore
Beneath the ramparts of the dreaming fort...
Whence is the barge coming in the night?
Whence did its journey start?
No reply came - and none in that still barge
Appeared to reply or move or breathe:
So horrid the stillness of the thin barge.

****

Why did that mysterious barge choose
this port for its apparitions? Why did
its ghostly captain leave behind charts
with exact coordinates? Most of all,
what daring possessed twenty-three young men
to hazard such a dangerous journey? I was
the first to feel compelled and convinced
the others to follow my lead. My head was
on fire with thoughts beyond the reaches of our souls.

We launched our ship from a secret natural
harbor, set sail in the middle of the night
on steady nocturnal currents, followed the path
of a huge cloud of sea fog, only partially
concealing the Mysterious Barge from our fixed gaze.
But suddenly men grew tired, completely worn out,
some collapsed where they stood onto the hard deck
and curled their bodies into rigid sleep.
Others dozed at their stations, shook themselves
awake only to fall into a deeper sleep. Within an hour
only four were awake, and fear crept into our souls
when our ship came to a halt just a few yards from
the stationary barge, no longer covered in fog
but lighted in a garish black light that slowly,
inexorably covered our ship too. I cannot speak
for the other three, but my fear was dispelled and
I felt strangely lifted in my mind. What dispelled
my fear? It was the presence of the ghostly captain
on our ship. One of my comrades began to shake,
the barge's captain touched his head with his long-
fingered hand and the sailor was immediately calm,
he began smiling. Then I heard the captain's voice
from some deep recess of my mind, or should I say,
my soul?

"Fear nothing, mortal men. The great war between Heaven
Hell has - ended. My comrades and I, once slaves
of the Evil Lord, have overthrown him. We have bowed
in worship to the Lord God before His angel ambassadors.
They have pacified Hell and we have surrendered our power
to do evil... You mortals do not understand Eternity
and we immortals do not understand Time, But the Time of
Division is over, How and when this cosmic peace will be
announced and promulgated, we do not know. Wait, patiently.

"And now you will witness the first of many Ascensions,
for the denizens of Hell, your sisters and brothers, whom
we seduced into damnation,are being taken to their
Purgatorial Ordeal. We are fulfilling our first mission."