We’ll go down
On God’s sinking ship
While we celebrate
A sea which drowns us

Leaving behind
All the wreckage
Of this year which
Didn’t end well,

With debris that trails
Far behind
Long after those waves
Consume vessels –

Flooding these decks
Where acceptance
Becomes reason enough
To still swim

For surviving at life
When it fails,

Plunging towards depths
More mysterious,

Swearing fate appears
Empty like oceans

Always lonely
And blacker than death.

Only fear
Can know water’s intent,
Drinking time
How faith swallows demons

Resurfacing now
After traumas
Keep dragging our world
Undertow.

Perhaps wreckage
May offer some glimpse,

Seeing days since passed
Often surface
If their meaning inside
Remains buoyant
Despite suffering loss
All endured-

During hardships
Pushing back love,

Fighting illness
By changing disasters

Into weightless dreams
Strength inhabits,

Maybe sick
But still staying afloat.

• J. Pigno