The Isle of The Dead

The poem describes my encounter with my dead sister in some long lost nook in my conscience. Her words eventually make me believe that if something can defy death, it is love alone.

I remember once sitting on the edge of an ocean exceptionally calm.

The breeze reveled in solitude,

While the cloudy skies seemed to be mourning,

It was all darkness around.

 

I failed to remember how I got there,

But I preferred the uncanny little spot,

For I have been a lover of tranquility,

Ever since I discovered its many pleasures.

 

Sitting there on its shore,

I heard the ocean sing to me through the stillness,

In myriad tones, which somehow,

I seemed to understand.

 

And long before I realized,

Came rushing to my conscience,

The memories of my dead past,

The faces of the dead I had loved.

 

I was reminded the most of my sister,

Whose eyes were like a beautiful mystery,

And her voice like a long-lost moonlit sonata,

So much had I loved her.

 

Yet, cruel, as life is,

It purloined her away from me, even before I had seen her,

Leaving a deep gash in my heart,

That to this day, continues to burn.

 

My mind was deep lost in thought,

When I realized that it had begun to rain.

And strangely, with the wind,

Came a beautiful voice, singing a lament.

 

I gazed around in awe,

Searching for the song’s provenance,

How powerful, how melodic was the voice,

Yet there was something dolent about it.

 

And then, I spotted in the ocean’s heart,

A lonely, lonely isle,

And sitting on its shore,

Was a little girl whom I seemed to know.

 

I spotted a boat nearby,

And decided to sail up to the isle,

And so I sat on it,

Disembarking on a journey which was to prove itself perpetual.

 

As I sailed through the calm waters,

Time seemed to go slower,

And the more I sailed,

The more distant seemed the isle.

 

I eventually grew tired,

And then, sleep, as she always does,

Took me in her loving arms,

And embraced me.

 

After what seemed like an eternity,

Did my slumber come to an end.

I opened my eyes,

To see that I had reached the end of my journey,

 

The singing had stopped.

Restless, I stirred,

And looked around for the girl I had seen,

But she was nowhere to be found.

 

Quite surprisingly, the isle seemed much more vast,

Than what it had looked,

When from the shore of the ocean,

Had I seen it.

 

I got up, and began to walk around,

Recommencing my search,

When at last,

I heard the voice speak behind me.

 

“Grow not impatient,

For the waters here stay calm,

And so does time”,

Said the girl, in a voice serene, yet effervescent.

 

“Where am I,

And who may you be?”

Asked I, turning back, my arms growing numb,

My eyes fixed in hers.

 

“This is the Isle of The Dead,

And I am the answer to all of your questions,”

Said she, her eyes enigmatic, yet calm,

Never failing to look into mine.

 

And then, suddenly did I realize, perhaps intuitively,

That she was the long lost part of me,

That she was the answer to my questions.

She was my dead sister.

 

“I have been looking for you,

And here do I find you,”

My eyes unable to believe that I had, at last,

Found what I had sought the most.

 

“Is this a dream?”

I asked her, noticing for the first time,

That the rain had stopped,

And the wind was calm once again.

 

“What if it is?

I am real, and so are you”,

She said with a pleasant smile,

“Why is it that you wanted to see me?”

 

“Your eyes,

They are exactly like I had imagined them to be,

I am astonished.

I find it hard to believe that my imagination serves me so well”.

 

“Why do you fancy them so much?

What do they mean to you?

What is it that you have seen in them?”,

She asked, as awed as I was.

 

“There’s so much beauty about them,

Yet something unfound,

They are the fuel of my imagination,

They are my only ray of hope when the skies are dark”.

 

“They have led me to light,

They have empowered my heart to fight oblivion,

And emerge victorious,

They have taught me to be strong; they have taught me to live”.

 

“They are my inspiration,

They are my poetry,

They are my soul’s song,

They are my enigma.”

 

“You awe me,

But I must say it, with a heavy heart,

You have failed to realize one thing.”

She said, her serene smile now fading away.

 

“What is it that I know not?

Please, do tell me”,

Said I, realizing that the air between us was growing heavy,

And that she was as thoughtful as I.

 

“These eyes are yours,

I am but your reflection,”

She said, growing serious for the first time.

I did nothing, but listened.

 

“It is you who have discovered the many realms of light,

It is you who have taught your heart to be taut when times are tough,

It is you who have given yourself hope when time seemed to be a fiend,

It was always you, not I”.

 

 I tried to weep,

But the tears didn’t come out.

But her intuition was much stronger than my will,

She realized that I wanted to, but could not cry.

 

“Don’t you realize?

This ocean is made up of your tears,

Of your sorrows, of your fears”,

Said she, her eyes growing heavy now.

 

“But worry not,

I am the ocean’s enemy,

I shall not let it touch you,

I shall be the guardian of your ecstasy”.

 

“But you are my ecstasy,

You are what I have loved the most,

I want you to come back”, Said I,

My eyes deep lost in the unfathomable depths of hers.

 

“But that is not possible,

For we must part, and now,

For we have our own worlds,”

She said in a sterner voice, her eyes drying up.

 

“Love knows not it’s depths,

Till comes the time to part”,

Said I to her, with a smile, not wanting to understand,

That the time to bid farewell had already come.

 

“But it shall not,

For you and the good souls in your world,

Have loved me so deep that I have already returned.”

She said, her eyes deep lost in mine.

 

“One day, I promise”,

Said I, reaching out my hand for her,

“I shall return, after having found all my answers,

I promise, and I do not break my promises.”

 

“But you needn’t,

For I am always in your heart,

Seek, and you shall find”,

She said, reaching out her hands too.

 

And as my hands felt her warmth,

Light emblazoned my vision,

And sleep, taking me into her arms,

Embosomed me yet again.

 

I opened my eyes.

I was lying on my couch,

Still contemplative,

Savoring the memories of the dream.

 

I turned around to see my little sister asleep.

I realized what the girl had been saying was true,

The one asleep beside me was but a reincarnation of the past.

She was a fruit of pure love.

 

She opened her eyes tenderly,

Smiling to me,

I took her hand,

The warmth was the same.

 

“How do you feel,

To see me again?”,

I smiled, and for the first time,

The ocean within me grew unbound.