Price for Sure

Captain Smith ordered the ship full ahead;
ship was Titanic, the queen of the sea.
Soon she would sink and a lot would be dead.

Labeled unsinkable--many mislead.
rash on the water most folks would agree.
Captain Smith ordered the ship full ahead.

Often the cocksure in captain is bred;
no misadventure can happen to me!
Soon she would sink and a lot would be dead.

Warnings of icebergs were wireless thread;
yet he displayed bizarre complacency.
Captain Smith ordered the ship full ahead.

All boilers lit--fires yellow and red!
twenty-two knots was a foolhardy spree.
Soon she would sink and a lot would be dead.

On the Atlantic the icebergs were spread;
thus the band played, Nearer My God, to Thee.
Captain Smith ordered the ship full ahead;
soon she would sink and a lot would be dead.


19 Lines (Villanelle)
Writer’s Cramp
9-30-14