Sonnet on the Tale of One Who was Once a Mariner

There was fire in the engine room below
Many and brave the men who fought the flames
And five died terrible and slow
The voices still I hear—forgot the names

All was lost, the chief came up on deck
“Prepare yourself for she is going down”
And from the flame he lit a cigarette
We’re gonna get wet he said with a frown

T’was sixty years ago this very day
I close my half-blind eyes—I still can hear
Those voices branded on my memory
They sound so awful close and much too clear

Two ships went down in hungry waves
The deeps hold five more young and unmarked graves