After All …
Will you come after all
with sweeping waves,
and cover the last scrap of land?
Will you form mountains
towering, falling … to then
flatten and smooth over all?
(As if nothing but sea
had ever been; no land ever,
nothing at all.)
The land, I believe,
will be tired then,
burnt so empty dry.
Empty of animals,
plants, insects, birds.…
Long gone, people to grieve.
Their cities will stand or fall,
it won’t matter. Only you, Ocean,
I think will still live.
Written for Sanaa's 'Weekly Scribblings #3: Salt-water poems' at Poets and Storytellers United.
The photo is my own.
Note: To some views the text of this post looks weird. (Too far from pic, and/or containing strange symbols.) I’m away from home with limited internet access at present, and haven’t been able to fix it using my tablet. I crave your indulgence!
Beautiful and sad. And undeniably true, if humanity keeps behaving the way it has.
ReplyDeleteI read this twice, the second time slowly and with the sea as background in my mind, the tone felt like waves.
Thanks for that. It wasn’t deliberate on my part, but I did write with that ebb and flow in the background of my consciousness. It’s my own photo, of a very familiar place, so the mere sight of it starts that in my mind.
DeleteOh my aching heart this is poignant! The image of the waves forming mountains .. towering and falling puts me in the mind of global warming and the fact that mankind needs to take some drastic measures ... and soon. Thank you so much for writing to the prompt, Rosemary 💝
ReplyDeleteThanks for the inspirational prompt, Sanaa!
DeleteIf it only be the sea, only the sea it will be, but then life would be all water, that one would see, and be. Thoughtful write.
ReplyDeleteI love the ebb and flow of this poem, Rosemary, the mournful repetition of the ‘alll’ sound, and the question ‘Will you?’ We can only pray for saltwater waves to soothe and heal that last scrap of tired land, to grieve what the Earth has lost.
ReplyDeleteOnce we didn't need to look after the Earth but sadly now we do and we have climate change deniers to rebuff any protests that we should care now as change is occuring. Sadly it is not enough for Greta Thunberg and us to complain as greed and blindness always seem to win.
ReplyDeleteMy heart broke a little reading that. We humans have so much to answer for, and we'll pay for it too. But the sea at least will go on.
ReplyDeleteOnly the Ocean remains. What a thought, vivid , food for thought. I hope a lot of the fishes (!!) will survive.
ReplyDelete..
Beautiful. And sad.
ReplyDeletewww.rsrue.blogspot.com
Take me directly to Austrailia's recent fires, and the questions of despair we all ask, but lo the rains of mercy come and the brave fire fighters fight the good fight
ReplyDeleteHappy Wednesday Rosemary
much love...
So it is, indeed. Now we pray the rains won’t bring new problems. So far, the storms are at least a rather better problem than the fires.
DeleteSorrowful and compelling!
ReplyDeleteYour words move as the ocean does. Beautiful and sad Rosemary.
ReplyDeleteBleak. But beautifully written. Oh, if only I had any reason to believe that we might indeed change our ways...
ReplyDeleteMaybe a view of earth's formation or perhaps judgement day? Words from the heart from your homeland. I hope you and your neighbors will see true relief soon.
ReplyDeleteThe sea must soothe and go on.
ReplyDelete