1912-04-14
Silence so still that words fail me
A night so beautiful that words escape me
A darkness glowing with dreams beyond me
A fortress of solitude steaming west
All calm above and all calm below
Four hours on and four hours off
Her flaming heart needing consoling
How beautiful her rhythm seems
11:40 pm
All above willing her to turn
All bellow willing her to stop
She seemed to sigh and so did we
She seemed to hold her breath, so did we
400 miles South of Newfoundland
2,200 souls she swore to protect
Her heart beat slowing, the life leaving her
She was stubborn and gave us a promise to fight
We were stubborn and gave her a promise
We would console her to the very last
Her breath began to leave her
Her fiery soul extinguishing within her
She would not leave us easily
We would not leave her
02:20 am
She fought to save the 705 she could
We fought to save her and whomever else we could
She sighed so deeply as she drifted below
We held our breath
Our promise bound us not to go
Our dreams are now her’s
Our souls forever bound to her
A promise fulfilled
A promise kept
May you 705 live
Silence so still that words fail me
A night so beautiful that words escape me
A darkness glowing with dreams beyond me
A still ocean with nothing left
1912-04-15
Tristan Barnard
BSc Wood & Wood Product Science,
STELLENBOSCH UNIVERSITY
This poem drew inspiration from a sea shanty from the band “The Longest Johns”, while also drawing from the sinking of the Titanic. The poem in itself is the story of the sinking from the perspective of the “black gang” who worked down below and attempted to save the ship and thus indirectly saved the passengers who survived by prolonging the sinking. The poem also plays with the idea of personification, how some form of attachment may exist between man and machine. In essence the poem may be about those aboard the Titanic but it may also comment on all those who work in “thankless jobs” who keep society afloat, both in times of strife and struggle but as well in calm.
