The Pressed Man

by Jason Horsler

‘When will I anchor here again?’
The sailor’s heart then cried.
He asked it of the wind and wave,
but ‘shh’, the sea replied.

The horizon called and still he stalled,
looking long from the landward side.
He wanted to shout his farewell out,
but ‘shh’, the sea replied.

The mist began to veil the hills
where he left his weeping bride.
Would she hear his wretched sad goodbye?
But ‘shh’, the sea replied.

The captain’s call and the bosun’s pipe
could not now be denied,
so he whispered prayer to return back there,
but ‘shh’, the sea replied.

And for all the moons and different stars
and a thousand change of tide,
he raged to be away from home,
but ‘shh’, the sea replied.

The storms blew and the cannons roared
and somehow our sailor died.
His bonnie over the ocean wept
and ‘shh’, the sea replied.

*
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[Author’s note] The title is a pun on ‘depressed man’ and refers more directly to the act of ‘pressing’ men into the naval service in and around the time of the Napoleonic war. The pun extends the interpretation of the rest of the poem to encompass all humanity. The question is, as the drama of being torn from home and sent to far places and dangers unfolds, does the sea sympathise and sooth or does it show terrible indifference?