The Live Is Punishment

With spell and voice intertwined
Circe denied the rightful path
The sea does not ask for prayers
It claims its tenth in flesh
In silence, the storm decreed
The price of the living

The keel cuts through the wave
Towards the merciless rock
If the rudder shifts its course
Life will be ground to dust
Between two fatal ways
My command remains silent

Six voices cried out from on high
My hands froze upon the deck
The names I had given them
Were shattered against the stone
The ship kept its course
Their lament followed me

The Sun shone without guilt
The sea returned to sea
To live was the punishment
We sail on the captain
Of many men saved
Of six men dead