so many were lost. We huddled, the ropes snakes, whipping
at whatever flesh they could find. Valkyries shrieked in the snapping
sails. I have never since screamed & not heard the sound. Never
since had such panic pried from my chest, like a boy who learns
even he must one day yield to nature; learns the lack beyond;
learns luck is larger than control. Then the eye & I breathed. In such
sudden silence, the tired piston of my chest rasped. The skies rolled
their depth through the hole of the moon & the seas rippled no more
than leather. I have never since looked on a sky & seen naught
but one star. The only pinprick in the pitch, like the winded wick
in the bedroom where a widow lies & wonders if she’ll ever nest
in the nook of a man’s neck again. Then the rain returned. First slow,
a million drips unseen out in the sea. I have never since cried with my
men. Never since fallen asleep and woken in the same nightmare. Three
days the Helheim tempest tossed us. On the third I let go the ropes,
& those Valkyries took me tenderly, first kissing my cut hands.