A Sailor's Prayer

 

The Tale of Wanderings by Ivan Shchepetnov.

Among the ones who sat in misery,
Terrified and lost in endless dark;
Accursed ships adrift on ghostly seas,
Empty of life, a carcass of a bark -
Among the ones sinking in brokenness,
Battered from without, but more within;
Who drank from bitter streams of hopelessness
And ate the rotten loaves moulded by sin -
Such were we - oh God, the grace in "were"! 
That such were we but now we are alive,
And live in light and love and are assured
That through all storms, our Captain deftly guides.
Guide us, Captain, guide and grant this boon -
To find such as we were and save them, too.