Survivor

Her fingers flipped the flooded codex,

parchment pages penned in black,

noting names in lilting lists—

the human holdings of the ship.

The isolated isle felt icy

(though the sunshine sharply seared).

And while she read the rolling roster,

whited waves would call and crash.

The manifest had floated, followed

chased (or chided?) by the sea.

It carried names of dead and drowned,

except the one—the reader’s own.