THE SEA OF LOVE
Out on a limb about to break,
below, the rocks, and crashing sea,
still searching for my last mistake
and how it came to ever be.
I had the plan, like everything,
the world was mine and in my hand,
the road through life, where I was king,
was comfortable, as I had planned.
But then love came, like not before,
and shattered all my dreams
to leave me wanting so much more;
than what I had, and how life seems.
Appropriated from the past,
I borrowed yesterday,
not knowing it could never last
because it's gone away;
so love has backed me to this break,
of limb and life, and I shall fall,
in love again, the big mistake,
into the sea of love that claims us all.
What lies beneath a sea of numb
Where ships of heart were taken down
Sunk to the bottom with the one
I hated and I meant to drown
For in its hull it carried pain
Instead of what its purpose was
And thus I had immense disdain
Because it never carried love
So yes, I set it in my sights
Then fired all I had and more
Carpet-bombing through the night
To sink it to the ocean floor
And when it finally disappeared
I flew away and did not know
The others ships were likewise pierced
Doomed just as well to slip below
They sank at random, one by one
The ships of pride and hope and fear
Of aspiration, sad and fun
The ship of peace, the ship of tears
The ship of drive, the ship of will
No ship was spared, the plight went on
They fell, and fell, and fell, and fell
Until at last all ships were gone
So now in silent flight I go
No signals come as were before
No guidance from the sea below
No hope of landing…anymore
…Jeff Bresee
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.