The Mariner’s Revenge Poem by Amera Andersen

i
Listen my children and hear this old tale,
I know it sounds strange, I’m told that it’s true.
It happened when tall ships sailed on the blue,
Two salty sailors fell over the rail.
They found themselves in the gut of a whale,
He swallowed them whole like a tasty stew.
Then the ship sailed away far out of view,
Leaving the sailors alone to prevail.

It all seemed to start because of a fight,
Fists started swinging and cursing broke out.
Two drunken sailors got nasty that night;
Wait ‘till you hear what the fight was about.
All for a woman whose stature was slight,
A queen among women there was no doubt.

ii
A queen among women there was no doubt,
A lover to one and to the other you see;
For she was his mother, apparently.
She was abused by the one who was stout.
Of course an encounter provoking the bout.
The fight continued, they could not agree,
Two sailors caught up in their destiny.
Each trying to prove who had the most clout.

The two men slid down the throat of that fish.
Entangled together they fell to their fate,
Punching and shouting in total anguish,
They did not realize that they were fish bait.
The whale thought the sailors a tasty dish.
They reached the whale’s belly, it was too late.

iii
They reached the whale’s belly, it was too late.
Then came to their senses and realized their plight,
Victims of fate and a whale’s appetite.
The sailor’s egos began to deflate;
Could this be the time to negotiate?
The gut of the whale was dark as the night
So they lit a fire, providing some light.
Now able to see, fire fueled their hate.

Now the guts of the whale was their carpeting
The ribs of the fish were the ceiling beams
Their voices were echoes that rang in extremes
The stench in that place was like vomiting
And no one was there to silence their screams.
It all could not be more discomforting.

iv
It all could not be more discomforting
As this tragedy began to unfold.
This is the story and how it was told.
When the old sailor used the girl for a fling
The younger sailor was just a young thing.
The old salt had taken her body so bold
Then took her money and clothes that he sold,
Left her for dead with an awful beating.

The younger sailor has now turned eighteen
And remembers his mother on her death bed.
She asked him to find this man who was mean
And break all his fingers and bones in his head.
She wanted revenge with pain in extreme,
So his hatred grew from what she had said.

v
So his hatred grew from what she had said
And now he was here alone with this man.
He started to think and developed a plan.
The boy couldn’t wait to see the bloodshed.
He tied him and bound him with fingers spread
Shredding his flesh like the blades of a fan.
He tortured and beat the old sailorman.
The old man was sorry the woman was dead.

For all his remorse had come much too late
He was tied and beaten and could not argue.
They were the whale’s dinner, without debate
And neither sailor could think of rescue.
There’s two ways to die in a whale so great.
I know it sounds strange, I’m told that it’s true.