JOSEPH HARRISON
Third Prize - 2019 Tower Poetry Competition, 'Underwater'
Thalassa
Upon her bed she gently laid
The ship, and tucked it tight with locks
Of seaweed, wrenched up sand-smoothed rocks
For pillows; motherly she made
It snug with silt, and whisp’ring bade
Her brine-born soldiers’ shining flock
To watch over the night-dark dock
Where cannons rusted and the rigging frayed.
Many men have left the fold,
the certain safety of the shore;
And many hearts of captains bold
lie still upon her sandy floor.
Embittered by the salt and cold,
Her foam-fanged waters thirst for more.