NaPoWriMo, April 7

...Yeahhhh, I know I'm a few days behind. I'm gonna try to catch up, but in the meantime:

Sinking Ships

She circles the world
traveling slowly,
surely arriving - but when?
the passengers wonder -
food always runs low
and uncounted days disappear.
They arrive and depart again -
but what has been lost
along the way?
On and on it goes,
the captain mourning
as she recognizes deterioration
until finally
it sinks below
a lone journey
eventually halting at sea's bottom.

Captain escapes, swimming
upward, upward
anxiety rising as oxygen plummets
questioning - will I make it
in time?

Life preserver leaves her afloat
and she breaks through to air
gasping
exposed
lost.

She can find her way ashore
build a new boat and move along
sturdier, faster, stronger -
Captain learns, and grows.

But she knows-
you go down with your ship
and it haunts her.

So every often, she voyages down
salvaging what she can to rebuild
from the wreckage,
transforming and adapting.

Always -
her stomach sinks on the long path down
and she wonders if it's worth it;
on the rise up, breaking away from sad memories
she wonders if she'll make it.