bleak

[typing mantis]

There are tumults in the ocean,
but the ship must sail,
it cannot sink.

I must reach the port,
I cannot sleep,
not a wink.

when times are hard
and light is bleak,
sea is the paper,
and tears are ink.

[Tiger the Lion]

Hello TM. I feel like this piece is primarily rhyme driven. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, provided it doesn't come at the expense of clarity.

There are tumults in the ocean, "on" would be more relevant than "in" if your sailing
but the ship must sail,
it cannot sink.

I must reach the port, I would strike "the" - for word economy and metrical movement
I cannot sleep, with the repetition of "must/cannot" from L2 and L3, this line becomes ambiguous. 
not a wink. then a cliche to clinch the rhyme
All that said I think you'd do fine to simplify this strophe and tie up your rhyme at the end, 
when times are hard more cliche
and light is bleak, "light" and "bleak" are almost opposites. You might make the light "weak" but you don't even need the rhyme here. 
sea is the paper,
and tears are ink.

I'm only nitpicking because you choose an important, but old sentiment that can't be puffed up with forced rhymes and  
tired cliches. Weaving a real, living experience into your core metaphor would improve the piece more than any lazy rhyme.
Good luck with it,
Paul

[Richard]

Hey typing mantis,
This poem actually reminds me of how I use to write when I tried to always rhyme in my poetry. At the risk of sounding anti-rhyming, my biggest suggestion would be to edit this poem by dropping the rhymes. I would be curious to see what you would end up with. I'll go into more detail below:

There are tumults in the ocean,
but the ship must sail, -What ship? I feel like you need to expand on this image. If the ship is some sort of metaphor for life, I would also suggest expanding on it.
it cannot sink.

I must reach the port,
I cannot sleep,
not a wink. -This rhyme isn't the greatest. It would be much more interesting if you talked about why the speaker can't sleep. Is he/she depressed? Is it the rocky ocean? How would the inability to sleep relate back to the ship as a metaphor for life?

when times are hard
and light is bleak,
sea is the paper,
and tears are ink. -I like the last two lines here. I would like to see them expanded on though. For example, what are the tears writing? As well, this rhyme isn't bad.

I hope I didn't go into too much detail for a basic critique, but I feel like you got something here. You just need to do some editing. I look forward to seeing where you take this poem from here.

Keep writing,
Richard

[ClaireLou]

Hi, I want to really like this poem as if used correctly rhythmic flow can be a beautiful thing & I can see what you are trying to achieve. However, sometimes it can seem forced as we struggle to find words that work cohesively together .... I say we as I have a a little list of rhymes in my brain that if I'm not careful sneak their way in everywhere!

Overall it just needs expanding upon to create more visualisation & imagery.

[nibbed]

Hi typing mantis.
I love cornball "cliche" when it's done the way I like.
Roses are red makes me smile.
Call me the untalented poet/general audience
who still sings Happy Birthday
and stands in the greeting card aisle for a dose of Prozac.
The last line is missing a beat.
LOVE THIS POEM, it is simple and easy,
better than morse code.

nibbed

[homer1950]

There are tumults in the ocean,
but the ship must sail,
it cannot sink.

I must reach the port,
I cannot sleep,
not a wink.

when times are hard
and light is bleak,
sea is the paper,
and tears are ink.

Hello Typing Mantis: Youre poem was quite enjoyable (I like them tight and neat). 
perhaps it could be even tighter and more dramtic, an example of what I mean:

Ocean is tumultuous
ship must sail, 
cannot sink.

to port must reach,
nary a sleeps wink.

this may add a faster pace to the read. Creating a feel of urgency that 
a ship on the ocean in trouble would have. Just a thought 

Thanks Homer

[billy]

while it seems to reads fairly well, it gives the reader little to think about. there are too many what, and why questions that need showing. the last stanza on it's own works to a point yet as is, it feels tacked on to finish the poem. the poem needs a focal point the reader can fix on. so far all i see that's bleak is the title. it needs the poem attaching to it.

There are tumults in the ocean,
but the ship must sail,
it cannot sink.

I must reach the port,
I cannot sleep,
not a wink.

when times are hard
and light is bleak,
sea is the paper,
and tears are ink.

[JMannUK]

Hey there,

My favorite part of this poem is the metaphor that you used at the end ' sea is the paper, and tears are ink'. When you look into it in ore detail, it speaks volumes to me; they are writing their own history, their own path, across the sea (though I do not know if this was intended).

I usually do love rhymes but I'm not a fan of these ones. They just seem a little forced. You have a great basis, a potentially great story to get across and I too would like to see a version of this without rhymes, it would definitely be interesting.

[Borissouza]

There are tumults in the ocean,
but the ship must sail,
it cannot sink.

I must reach the port,
I cannot sleep,
not a wink.

when times are hard
and light is bleak,
sea is the paper,
and tears are ink.

Hello Typing Mantis, 

I really enjoy this work, you've established a general feeling of hopelessness (with the specific context of being lost at sea). I'm not sure that light being described as bleak reads well (while we all know what it means it just isn't an adjective typically used to describe light itself) though to be honest I still enjoy this line and wouldn't know where else to take it. One possible route you could take this would be to add in a reference somewhere to other dark 'sea-faring' works? If you are familiar with Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner this piece definitely calls to mind that same sort of feel. You could mention an albatross or some related symbol of the sea? Ultimately I really enjoy this piece and think it is very close!