For Those In Peril

Sailors ashore watched With practised foreboding, As sky glittered threat Under storm-clouds unfurled. Smacking-wet raindrops Attacking ground, dust-dry Forked lightning revealing A frightening world. Thoughts turn to mariners Battling malevolence Panting-hot sweat keeping Riggings in place. Gulls, like the wind, shrieking Wildly in concord, Bent on effacing The whole human race. Mutterings and whisperings Mouthing with pleading 'Neath increasing gale They had not before seen. That their Lord abide with them As fast falls the nightime. They crouch for deliverance From the worst ever been.