J. M. Pressley
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Man O' War
(08/13/94)

There beneath the squalid sea
She lays upon her staved-in side;
Her sunken decks strewn with debris

She towers up in majesty
Erupting from the sea with pride
There beneath the squalid sea

A crew in death guards loyally;
Their polished bones, a ward, bestride
Her sunken decks strewn with debris

The shifting floor she oversees
Upon the ancient reef she strides
There beneath the squalid sea

Once so fearsome, now to be
Thus riddled with holes, gaping wide;
Her sunken decks strewn with debris

Look then, she rests so peacefully
Swaying gently with the tide;
There beneath the squalid sea,
Her sunken decks strewn with debris.

© 1994 by J. M. Pressley


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