Water filled each cleft and crevice; unease within you grew.
Though physically brave, I couldn't withstand the strong wave.
I felt, yet, in the end, contentment with saving a few
No lifebuoys left; am I pushed to the brink of my grave?
This sea, though I'm within her waves now, isn't my stranger.
Hadn't I spent my mammoth life on her thrill-bubbling shores?
Won't she, at these troubled times, save me from every danger?
Though once she smashed my sand forts, will she wreck my heart's cores?
Isn't my death, yet, shifting from one shore to another?
Isn't plunging into the whirlpools part of this process?
Though those whose hands I held to save their own lives don't bother
Towards a valorous voyage, may my sound soul progress.
Farewell, O Titanic; you'd been sheltering me for long.
Leave me now; that I reach the divine shrines where I belong.
Water peeps, first; seeps in then; flows fluently fast,
Fills the courtyard; gets into our homes; pools unasked;
Checks the shelves and cupboards; as though a C.I.D,
Or authorized Income-Tax Officer on raid...!
Knees-level; we look through windows; Water! Water!
Huts half-sunk; trees river-engulfed; liquid terror!
Breeze, as though annoyed, howls, prowls, blows tempestuous!
Humbly break and fall boughs of trees ingenuous...!
Snakes, centipedes, millipedes, poisonous lizards,
Congregate as per species; torment as hazards;
Electric lines broken; communication blocked,
We find ourselves in lone islands; existence shocked...!
Rays of hope within, yet, in corners of heart, glows,
We all start helping each other; breeze of love blows;
Floating trunks turn lifebuoys, saving the drowning,
Amid flood, meaning of life turns as life-giving...!
27 January 2022
A STRAND (1060) Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Brian Strand
So sad to see you
Wilt away
Waste away
Fade away
People throwing lifebuoys
And you don’t reach out
You don’t try
You don’t want
You refuse to try
As if you hope to end it
Once and for all
As if you’ve given up
On finding something to live for
Gave up on your dreams long ago
Do you even remember caring
So long ago
What about the people
Who want you
In their lives
Who want to hear your jokes
See you smile
See you embrace life again
What about
Everyone who loves you
Let us back into your heart
AP: Honorable Mention 2025
Submitted on August 18, 2017 for contest LET ME INTO YOUR HEART sponsored by JULIE LEIGH RODEHEAVER - RANKED 8TH
PS featured in 2018
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