A Man Adrift On A Slim Spar
by Stephen Crane
A man adrift on a slim spar
A horizon smaller than the rim of a bottle
Tented waves rearing lashy dark points
The near whine of froth in circles.
God is cold.
The incessant raise and swing of the sea
And growl after growl of crest
The sinkings, green, seething, endless
The upheaval half-completed.< /p>
God is cold.
The seas are in the hollow of The Hand;
Oceans may be turned to a spray
Raining down through the stars
Because of a gesture of pity toward a babe.
Oceans may become gray ashes,
Die with a long moan and a roar
p>
Amid the tumult of the fishes
And the cries of the ships,
Because The Hand beckons the mice.
A horizon smaller than a doomed assassin's cap,
Inky, surging tumults
A reeling, drunken sky and no sky
A pale hand sliding from a polished spar.
God is cold.
The puff of a coat imprisoning air:
A face kissing the water-death
A weary slow sway of a lost hand
And the sea, the moving sea, the sea.
God is cold.
The lines of Klein's poems reveal pessimism, fate and confrontation. The vast universe evokes the breath of Naihe. For Klein, the only thing worthy of attention and always paying close attention to is not the ruthlessness of the universe or the irresistibility of fate, but the insignificance and isolation of human beings. Apart from this, there seems to be no other possibility. As he wrote, "God is cold" and man "adrift on a slim spar."