For context, please read the Book of Jonah in the Bible, focusing on the first chapter. This poem is written through the eyes of a sailor on Jonah's fateful voyage...
"The Sailor"
The breeze excited;
snapping sails
and rustling hair.
The sky darkened,
heavy with storm clouds;
a chill in the air.
Tho' seasoned,
eyes surveyed above
as souls well'd up with dread.
Eerie fierceness
ne'er seen upon the sea
in an instant o'er us spread.
The sky
black as pitch, the wind lashed the rigging
with a scream.
Waves rose as phantoms
from the murky deep
like a terrifying dream.
We cried
to our gods of the wind, sky, and sea
and begged their anger to subside.
"What have we done?!"
"What can we offer?!"
All this, yet none replied.
All gathered
and threw lots to see
on whom the blame we'd cast.
To a Hebrew traveler they fell;
who's voice did roar
above the blast.
"The Lord
God Whom I fear
He made sea and land!"
We'd never heard of such a One
Who'd composed all of Nature
and did shape it with His hand.
He spoke not
of angry spirits fancied in the minds of men
which cannot make one awed;
but a Maker, Father,
Savior, Redeemer,
an Almighty, Eternal God.
"His direction
I've defied and now I flee before His face"
his voiced raised still above the din.
"Now to save yourselves
alive this night, take me up
and cast me in!"
We contended
him madly then rowed hard and cast off,
but could aught be done, alas.
We begged mercy from his God,
cast him oe'er, and in an blink
the sea was calm and smooth as glass.
Then in awe
we fell and knew that He is God;
Ruler of wind and wave.
The Creator of all,
Master of the sea
a King, mighty to save.
Now on we sail
to nearest land
the ship to fit and store.
From now I'll tell of Him
Who made all things, and
serve Him evermore.
