Starve the Ravens

Her mysterious tears
stain the old yellow
sea-navigator's
map

drawn on a
sheet of vellum
contained within
a circle,

produced by
monks in
medieval period,

black ink with
red and gold
leaf,

blue and green
for rivers and
seas.

Lady Sea by
day, navigating
by the seabirds;

If the beak of
a seabird is full,
it is heading toward
its rookery, if empty,
it is heading out to
sea to fill its beak.

Muse by night,
navigating by
the Big Dipper.

The Pirate ship
was using lead
and line that day, 

one day's journey
out, the pirates
thought, but
miscalculated,
lost in the trade
wind.

The pirates jumped
ship and swam
like bastard
robbers to
the Muse

to steal the
Mappa Mundi.

At the top of the
map is Christ in
Majesty sitting at
the Day of Judgement

To His Right and Left,
angels summon the
blessed and turn away
the unrepentant.

At His Feet is the
Blessed Virgin who
intercedes for those
who have shown
devotion to her.

The Muse jumped
ship and boarded
the abandoned
Pirate ship to free
Starve the Ravens.

The pirates kept
ravens aboard
and starved them,

then released them
for navigation.
The ravens flew
straight to land
for food and the
pirates followed
their lead.

Lost in the trade
wind, the Muse
was swallowed
up, leaving no
trace but her
mysterious tears
on the
Mappa Mundi.

Her last climb
was up the mast
to tear down
the Pirate's flag,

the skull and
crossbones
and hourglass,
death symbols
to the pirates.

Her ghost ship
is seen on the
horizon in the
backdrop of
a lighthouse
and fat ravens.

Copyright 2005 Sage Sweetwater, firebrand lesbian novelist