{"id":4639,"date":"2025-09-27T21:38:05","date_gmt":"2025-09-27T18:38:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/axis-v.com\/?p=4639"},"modified":"2026-05-27T19:40:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T16:40:07","slug":"raft-of-the-medusa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/axis-v.com\/en\/raft-of-the-medusa\/","title":{"rendered":"The Raft of the Medusa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

From the darkness of the sea, from the rotten wood that still keeps my skeleton afloat \u2013 I speak. My voice comes not from lips, but from the depths of my gut. For there is no human language left here. Only\u2026 memory and flesh.<\/em>

I have forgotten how the land smells.
Forgotten how my name sounds.
Here, everyone is not a person, but an organ of survival:
Skin \u2013 for protection, fingernails \u2013 for clutching,
A mouth \u2013 for curses or for meat.

At night, the sea snores and tosses \u2013
I fear it may yet swallow us whole.
We do not so much fight \u2013 as we leak away in time.
Bodies that whispered of rescue only yesterday,
Today become food.

I have seen death arrive silently,
Without asking permission.
I have seen hope weeping when the sun rises,
And there is no rescue ship \u2013 again.

Little Jean was delirious\u2026
He thought he saw grapes.
But in reality \u2013 they were his father\u2019s eyes, which no longer blink.

Someone said: \u201cLook! Sails out there!\u201d
And we gathered together.
For the first time \u2013 together. Not like beasts,
But like those who are no longer afraid.

I raised my hand. Not to scream \u2013 but to simply be.
To call myself alive one more time.
If only for a moment. If only on this raft,
Which has long ceased to carry us \u2013
And is simply waiting to see who will be the first to give up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From the darkness of the sea, from the rotten wood that still keeps my skeleton afloat \u2013 I speak. My voice comes not from lips, but from the depths of my gut. For there is no human language left here. Only\u2026 memory and flesh. I have forgotten how the land smells.Forgotten how my name sounds.Here, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[114,122],"zbirnyk":[],"class_list":["post-4639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","tag-body","tag-death"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Raft of the Medusa - A Poem in the Voice of the Survivor<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A poem from inside G\u00e9ricault's painting - in the voice of one who forgot land and name, where the raised hand means only to call oneself alive one more time.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/axis-v.com\/en\/raft-of-the-medusa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Raft of the Medusa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A poem from inside G\u00e9ricault's painting - in the voice of one who forgot land and name, where the raised hand means only to call oneself alive one more time.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/axis-v.com\/en\/raft-of-the-medusa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Axis-V | \u041f\u0438\u0441\u044c\u043c\u043e \u044f\u043a \u0441\u043f\u043e\u0441\u0456\u0431 \u0431\u0443\u0442\u0438\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-09-27T18:38:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-27T16:40:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"\u0410\u043d\u0430\u0441\u0442\u0430\u0441\u0456\u044f \u041a\u043e\u0440\u0431\u0435\u0442\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\u0410\u043d\u0430\u0441\u0442\u0430\u0441\u0456\u044f \u041a\u043e\u0440\u0431\u0435\u0442\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/axis-v.com\\\/en\\\/raft-of-the-medusa\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/axis-v.com\\\/en\\\/raft-of-the-medusa\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\u0410\u043d\u0430\u0441\u0442\u0430\u0441\u0456\u044f \u041a\u043e\u0440\u0431\u0435\u0442\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/axis-v.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7004b0cc0d0735685204184c172cb605\"},\"headline\":\"The Raft of the Medusa\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-27T18:38:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-27T16:40:07+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/axis-v.com\\\/en\\\/raft-of-the-medusa\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":252,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/axis-v.com\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7004b0cc0d0735685204184c172cb605\"},\"keywords\":[\"body\",\"death\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Poetry\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/axis-v.com\\\/en\\\/raft-of-the-medusa\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/axis-v.com\\\/en\\\/raft-of-the-medusa\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Raft of the Medusa - 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