'to hang an albatross around his neck'

                                                                                                Author Duncan Wright
Image: Gibson's Albatross a subspecies
of Antipodean Albatross (here)

Theme: Animals - A for Albatross

seafaring folks are beset with dangers

in their travels praying for kind weather
or alternatively not to invoke
acts of ill-luck on the high seas
the ancient mariner chose 'to hang
an albatross around his neck'
 a senseless act that attracted
immediate retribution

a moral message 'warning against
thoughtless and foolhardy actions
that invoked grave consequences

For the A to Z April Challenge - A