Part VII -- A Desert Island

"The gentle harbor took us in
and we lay at rest there that night.
It was a glorious paradise
that greeted us with day's light."

"Lush with greeness, it seemed untouched,
a virgin lying in the midst of the sea,
but it was ours, this crew, to take,
and we went into it freely."

"I set about with two of the crew
to harvest whatever there we might
for food and store; we ventured
full across the island with day's light."

"That was a cursed sojourn then
for while we reaped a crop mighty,
I alone would make it back that day;
I alone left of the three."

"That was a cursed sojourn then
for whle we reaped a crop mighty,
I alone would make it back that day,
I alone left of the three."

"It was a humid, hanging day
and as we, weary, reached the other side,
we cast our clothes and boots away
and into the sea we dived."

"An hour did we waste away there
with shouts and with splashing joy,
forgetting whatever cares we had,
though the one was but a boy."

"Then as we two crawled on the shore,
we called out to him to return,
and fell back waiting on the hot sands,
as he swam towards us once he'd turned."

"There was a splash, and a great flash;
I sat up and shielded the sun
from my eyes, but could see nothing,
and leaned back to watch him come."

"Yet now in my shaded view,
I saw nothing but sea, then this
was broken by another flash
of the purple and fin of a great fish!"

"I jumped up and ran to the waves,
but my mate held me back there.
That saved me from his razor teeth.
The boy was gone now, seen nowhere."

"The great fish sliced the waters in
a great circle that grew wide;
then it darted for the reef beyond,
and disappeared down outside."

"Now there was silence grew
that echoed over the surf's great sound,
and I broke the cancerous silence
with a cry -- a hopeless sound."

"A cry that from deep anguish broke,
that may soothe the soul, it's tru,
but this one was grievous sin,
and our anguish was not yet through."

Part VIII -- The Cannibals

"We turned in time, after pondering
what had occurred, from the sea,
and walked toward the lush green growth
to rejoin our mates hastily."

"Then as we walked on up the sand
toward what seemed like paradise,
the horror of the fish's meal
was abruptly stricken from our eyes."

"There before us stood six dark men,
three to our left, and three
to our right, blocking our path,
and to our backs rolled the sea."

"Six giant men who wore more paint
than clothes, and from each one's ear
and each one's nose, there hung a bone,
and each one held a spear."

"Outnumbered, with no place to run,
and spears aimed at our chests,
we tried to greet them friendily,
but three moved out from amidst the rest."

"No word was said by one of them,
if to speak a word they knew,
and they quickly bound us hand and foot
and tied us each onto a skew."

"A skew, I say, for it was not long
that they had built a fire, and came
to pick fat Burns up fastened tight
and place him close over the flames."

"They stripped him of his ragged garb
and gagged him with it instead,
and turned him slowly round and round
over the fire as his skin glowed red."

"This was a horror worse than death,
for it was my own death I did see.
I watched him roast and the cannibals
pick his flesh, tied helplessly."

"The orb simmered into the moon
before my eyes, as they did sit
and pick his bones, ignoring me;
it was not quite my turn, yet."

"Then there was darkness, and no moon,
as the six lay around the fire,
then seemed to perform some ritual
before their hot and soaring pyre."

"My muscles ached and my veins swelled,
yet I savoured each pain as my last.
Then I was shaken from near unconsciousness
by a volley of flashes and blasts."

"They bore me back and to the ship
in a sling back overland;
the last I saw as my mates unbound me
was six dark forms laid on the sand."

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