Death of a Titan

Death of a Titan

She was called the Queen of the Ocean,
A beautiful ship of dreams.
Titanic was her namesake
Unsinkable was what she seemed.

Her story is a tragic one,
Oh Royal Mail Steamship.
The greatest disaster epic told
Now rests in the ocean’s crypt.

All those years ago in April
Passengers boarded her with glee.
Rich and poor together
Traveling from sea to shining sea.

Her insides were majestic
There was nothing to compare,
Elegance enveloped her
Showing ambiance, romance and flare.

Her rooms were fit for royalty
Her occupants of fortune and fame,
But no one saw that disaster loomed
And the Reaper was ready to claim.

On that fateful night it happened
It was a perfect, clear, blue night.
Among the dining and dancing
Crept a silent ghostly sight.

Like a terrifying monster,
Or a dark lecherous troll,
The white giant sliced angerly
At the core of Titanic’s hull.

As water gushed in from the salty sea
The giant bellowed a hideous laugh.
For another victim had fallen prey
Into its dark and icy trap.

Among the confusion and congestion
the captain knew that disaster loomed.
Hearing sounds from the lower decks
The terrified voices of the doomed.

Distress rockets were fired off
Women and children lined up first,
Sadly waiting in the bitter cold
Knowing their husbands’ lives were cursed.

Lowered down to the frigid water
In the lifeboats they cried and wailed.
Grasping hold of their wedding rings
As their children watched death’s trail.

The band played on to soothe the crowd
As all of them thought they should.
Songs of sadness and of strife
As men grabbed rails and proudly stood.

Half gone was she now, this Ship of Dreams
That once sailed the ocean proud.
To the rowers in the lifeboats
Now only a funeral shroud.

“It’s cold out here mommy”
“Is there no way out?”
A mother clings to her child
Trying to soothe his trembling pout.

Their fate she knows already
Her tears as sharp as glass
To tell her child they are going to die
Because they are third class.

Fading evermore into the darkness
Smokestacks fell, the ship shook with fright.
The passengers still aboard her
Screamed helpless fears into the night.

In an instant she was gone
This Titan pulled beneath the waves.
For the 1400 souls aboard
The deadly sea became their graves.

Finally, to their rescue
The trekking Carpathia came
And when the survivors boarded her
On their faces was horror stained.

They said that when she challenged God
It was something He did not like,
And as punishment for such insolence
He used an iceberg for a spike.

If men had been more careful,
Had respect and not so much pride,
The disaster might have been avoided
Saving the innocents that had died.

So to you, oh great Ship of Dreams
When reminiscing of the past.
We toast to you and your greatness
Your majesty, grace and class.

Your spirit will forever live on
In the stories of the saved.
You were truly the greatest masterpiece
That the ocean ever claimed.

Dedicated to the men, women and children of the RMS Titanic that lost their lives, April 14th, 1912.

Original Poetry