I love the sea, so I have always been very fond of this Norse myth
of red monkeys under the ocean feeding iron bars to the serpent. They
did this because when the world was made it was too heavy, so the serpent
was given the task of coiling around it to keep it together. However, the
serpent would get hungry so the red monkeys were given the chore of
feeding it iron bars to stop it uncoiling in search of food, as that would
have been disastrous!
SAIL AWAY TO NOWHERE
Little boat
On the horizon
Sailing away to nowhere
Rough winds
Send you skirling
Across impatient waters
Fiery suns
Smash colour rainbows
Into the roaring silence
Darkening skies
Threaten spiteful rain
To savage and to sink you
Under the ocean
Red monkeys feed iron bars
To the world’s serpent
Respect the serpent
Whose coils save the world
From abrupt and violent ending
Little boat, come home
Steer quietly into safe harbour
Where I am always waiting
To sail away to nowhere.
© 2018 Gwen Grant
Poems by Gwen Grant 
nice poem. It made me want to go sailing even though I get horribly sea sick. I love the sea but not the way it moves me up and down. I love swimming at the beach and just hanging around in the water but when it comes to boating my stomach can not handle it. Anyhow good poem. 🙂
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Great post ! I enjoyed. Diana
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Thanks for your kind words. Glad you enjoyed the poem.
Gwen.
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You can come with me anytime, although I did need to call the coastguard on my last trip. So perhaps you’d not be advised, but I think we’d make good company!
I’d not heard this Norse myth. Thank you.
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Thank you so much. So glad you liked the poem. I’m afraid I’m the same as you are when it
comes to going on an actual boat! I get sea-sick going on a Ferrry yet my husband was a
sailor in his younger days and sailed all over the world.
Gwen.
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What happened?! Glad you’re OK whatever it was. The world of myths is enormous so I’m
glad you liked this one. Who could ever have thought of monkeys feeding iron bars to a
snake to keep the world in one piece!
Gwen.
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sailing around the world just thinking of it made my stomach curdle 🙂
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I know!!
Gwen.
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I’d planned to hold against the tide over a sandbank seven miles off shore and I lost my nerve!
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Possibly, then, your nerves are more sensible than you are! But things like this always haunt
us and sometimes lead us into doing other daft things to make up for them. Glad you were OK anyway.
Gwen.
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