by Sigrid E. Mortensen

© 2023

There is a swirling vortex

Off of my port stern

Behind me

Far enough

To be not quite visible

Yet I can hear its rumbling roar

Taunting my left ear.

The wind of it

Inflates my sails

And it moves with me 

Staying

Always

Just behind my reckoning.

I hear its menacing growl

I feel a chill scrape my left side.

If I run my sails hard enough

I can keep ahead of it

But if I linger

Only slightly

I fear it will draw me in

I will skate along its edge

Circle ‘round its gravity well

Spiral into darkness

And oblivion.

I can’t ignore its screeching howl

Nor the stench of its foul breath

I can only trim my sails the harder

To flee its icy depth.

It follows me

Follows me

Follows me.

When seas are calm

It ebbs into soft eddies

That churn their ugly threats

Far below the surface.

And when winds roar anew

It kicks into a frenzy

That spurns me forward and

Away

Escape its wrathful vengeance

Lurking predator

After prey.

What would happen if I came about

Faced my bow headlong into its core?

Would I slice it into smaller swirls,

Spawn more serpents,

Multitudes of

Medusa’s curls?

Or would the bubble of it pop

And glitter rainbow-colored droplets

Harmless

Into salty air?

I only wonder

Daren’t try

For now

I have more waves to run.

I choose 

Instead

Uneasy resignation 

Of its ever-presence off my left shoulder

I live with it

Try to ignore it

And never quite succeed

Yet aim my focus

Forward

Upward

Squint to see

My guiding stars.