I Wonder What It Feels Like to be Drowned?

Look at my knees,   
That island rising from the steamy seas!   
The candle's a tall lightship; my two hands   
Are boats and barges anchored to the sands,   
With mighty cliffs all round; 
They're full of wine and riches from far lands....   
I wonder what it feels like to be drowned?
   
I can make caves,   
By lifting up the island and huge waves   
And storms, and then with head and ears well under
Blow bubbles with a monstrous roar like thunder,   
A bull-of-Bashan sound.   
The seas run high and the boats split asunder....   
I wonder what it feels like to be drowned?  
   
The thin soap slips
And slithers like a shark under the ships.   
My toes are on the soap-dish—that's the effect   
Of my huge storms; an iron steamer's wrecked.   
The soap slides round and round;   
He's biting the old sailors, I expect....
I wonder what it feels like to be drowned?

This poem is in the public domain.