Battle at Sea

A sestina poem about war.

And in the waves of red, an endless cycle beginning,

Twigs of limbs wash away unto a hush of calm.

Such is the beauty of universality, witnessed by all�"this same silence.

The calm is honored with abandoned sheaths, the blades floating

Away. Now clashing foes hold calloused hands

They wonder about those lost at sea.

A lighthouse calls nostalgically out to sea,

Casting out a cowardly incandescence lost from the beginning.

And making its way at the end, searching for abandoned hands,

The light is devoured by a black, red, raging calm.

The waters cast ashore paint the ground with the bodies floating.

A glow finds way to shore cast the art’s glory among silence.

Cries and screams fade to a beauteous silence

Where empathy and understanding reign the sea.

On waters dense with memories, heavy hearts are floating

And the waves carry them back to the beginning.

Starting again, to battle for calm

Starting again, to ready unsullied hands.

Tossed ashore are blades of the past, wielded by worn hands

And guns of the future, wielded by regretful silence.

The lifetime spared of calm

Spares no mercy until hope is bottled in thrown to sea.

When the bottle is found, there is another thousand bottles’ journeys at sea beginning

Not sinking but floating.

And when the bottle is opened, the light within begins floating

Beyond earthly grasps�"hands that fail to resemble hands.

Still, in the crevasse of another beginning

A wave approaches shore in silence

To fuel the emaciated souls of the sea

Satiation leads them to an eternal calm.

Should the metallic taste fade to calm

Should sin leave floating

And the bitter taste surrenders to the raging sea,

Perhaps beyond the red, a savior’s weapon is bare hands

To grasp the waves and force them back; are screams better than silence?

Silence has been empathy, from the beginning.

Waves return to their places, their rightful beginning.

The same shades of black and red dye the waters in silence,

Demanding a price: To understand is to be caught by the sea.

Reviews

[Bhumika Devkota]

Such nice poem :) It gives a lot of images, good job!