Sea Prayer

The boat is small enough to fit only a few rows of people. Although they wait for sunrise, they are leaving with only the barest hints of yellow hitting the sky. The narrator’s imagined vision of the trip goes on ahead in the illustrations as he explains his worries. It is the size of the sea that concerns him. It stands in for the all of the powerful forces at work in the conflict. Now that the letter acknowledges that Marwan is sleeping, the narrator opens up about his doubts. He admits that his memories will do nothing to actually protect them. He chastises himself for these “tricks” and his role in building up any false hope. In order to deal with these feelings, he turns to prayer.

The waves roll underneath the boat. No other objects or even the sky can be seen except for two birds flying above. The water reaches to the edges of the page, looking boundless around the ever-shrinking size of the boat. The narrator’s words are always backlit with paler colors.