Sicut dentibus virum in praeda aget serpens, cruentante hamo in nautam explevit tortor dolore non imaginato; plaga vulnusque numquam gravis adfatim nescire, tantummodo et corporem et animum vulnerare erant. Atque sicut idem virum, dolor per venas sparsit, contaminans omnes membros visceraque donec omnes visi sint quiritare in concordia;
“Imploramus, Domine, nos liberes!”
Sed nec sonitus salutis ab caela, nec ab ore nautae diserti venit. Aut arbitratu aut infantia, nauta ludum tortoris non dedidit; sub callo sub longitudine vulnerum sub conspectus anguineorum oculorum celavit quiritationem.
Inde, ut lanterna rubente radio protulit, per repagulas nefastae caveae, vidit nauclerum videntem scelerosum eventum; cum non signu, perrupit lacrima admixta sanguinem ab vapulatu.
As a snake drives its venom into its prey with its teeth, the tormentor filled the sailor with an agony he had never imagined with that stained hook; the stabs and cuts were never deep enough to kill, only to wound both body and spirit. And like that same venom, the pain coursed through the sailor’s veins, infecting every limb and organ before they all seemed to scream in unison,
“Please, Lord, release us!”
But no thunderous sound of salvation came from heaven, nor from the mouth of the forsaken sailor. Whether by willpower or inability, the sailor gave not into the tormentor’s sick game; he hid his screams under the skin, beneath the reach of the gashes, below the view of those snake eyes.
Then, as the lantern revealed with red-tinted rays, he saw the captain through the bars of this unholy prison watching the wicked proceedings; and with no warning, a blood-soaked tear broke from the battered man’s eye.
*****
Nauta sum. Lux est mea prolata.
I am the sailor. The light is my revelation.
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