Mother tucked the white square of a letter 

into her dress

ran her hand over the black leather 

                    cover of the large Bible

before opening it, and 

reading 

Jacob listened from his place on the 

straw-topped stool, 

not to the words but to the 

peaking and troughing of Mother's voice

the tremor of worry

and exhaustion

under the surface

                  the letter was from Uncle Emiel

but instead of his words

                 she chose to read them 

the words of God

the housemaid was gone

the shelf in her chamber bare and

her clothing missing from

the cabinet

          run off said Willem

          dead said Henrik 

          sent packing said Willem

         disgraced and sent packing said Henrik 

         covered in bruises said Willem

          and both arms broken said Henrik

          liar

          idiot

Father did not find his way home 

not for supper and not for breakfast 

for a blank stretch of days

in which Mother read 

and read aloud

from the thick Bible

and Jacob cocked his head

and listened

top in hand

not liking what he heard

Willem

arriving well past the sleeping hour 

droop-eyed and sagging

when he appeared in the doorway, wishing no supper

                        Ahrens, always that blasted Ahrens

                       Ahrens and more Ahrens, I am sick of that name

within minutes

he was snoring

gap-mouthed 

still wearing his working clothes

                  one hand

                  dangling from the bed

Jacob plotted his course

             calculated and charted

rode the strange, unsettling tide 

of the days as they

            darkened, leeched of daylight

            spinning the wooden top and waiting

            listening to Mother

            listening for the Leviathan

the compass needle was trembling, straining towards

true north

and the Leviathan

was preparing to break the surface

to show its horrible face

in the blinding light of day

its arms unfurled 

             and greedily clutching the air to catch

                  and embrace

           them 

all