A SHIP OF FOOLS
The iron palace of electric light
steams into catastrophe and idiom,
a culture’s symbol of folly
and achievement.
The last, late sailing of the nineteenth century,
or the first of the next, it never arrives.
Unexpected, unheeded icebergs rise
from calm, dark seas.
The Captain loses face
and chooses death. The steerage,
having nothing to lose, gains nothing from death;
rushes from the vortex of the sinking ship
into frigid waters.
John Huddart
May 14, 2012Many words have grasped the end of something that is the Titanic’s fate. We all seem to see ancestors lining her rails. But it was a quick end, and she was gone in a flash. These glimpses of its role and purpose, and the chilling futility, say it all. Why couldn’t the Fellowes fellow have made a series out of that?