An Unexpected Feast

Slicing its way through the treacley blue sea the cruise liner casts a lone shadow on the water beneath it. No other sight but the waves moving slowly toward an horizen seen only as a thin blur in the fading light. In the dining room   crowds gather,  dressed for dinner as a band plays soothing music, setting the mood for an evening of varied enjoyments. Waiters move between the tables carrying drinks and taking orders for the meal. Anticipation lives in every gaze

Where you able to spy in on the boat as it slides through the water , you would hear the band play  some trilling melody, assuring the pampered guests that all was as it should be, and that nature was for viewing and not experiencing: thus we comfort ourselves.

Small crisis cause small ripples through this world, someone has lost their purse and a wave of panic moves out from her table. The bread rolls are slightly over-warmed and might now be too dry to  enjoy. But whose to care, as this closed world glides slowly on its way. The captain bestows his time on the thicker wallets and some man who graced the stage some years before.

Outside the chilling air is indifferent to their moods. Events like these have no register. Only the movement of the waves marks  passing time.

Below decks the steerage passengers enjoy their adventure. What could be worse than what they’ve left, so enjoy the evening and prepare for the morrow. This capsule, protecting what we call life and social norms proceeds at steady pace across the darkening ocean towards the unsuspected iceberg  far ahead. For now there are more pressing matters to attend. Decorum and a sense of social worth must be protected in this crowded place, so no infection can cross the class divide.

As we know, folly and misfortune can combine, as in this case, to bring our stylish progress to a halt. The uninvited sea enters the gash caused by hubris and some negligence

Beneath the surface of the ocean there is no music and no laughter that we can understand. The urgency is of another kind, as species never seen by those above hurry to their unexpected feast. Celebrating their own manna  from heaven ,unmindful of the tears which flow above . A  world unknown to them now rocked by grief. Thus it is, that somewhere out of mind an alien instinct mocks our frailties. That we who scuttle round in man-made craft, assume control of this place  where we live.

Advertisement