"These shores are a reflection
Of the heaven beyond the horizon
both subject to the whims
Of gravitational tides"
"...but starfish aren't fish
Nor are they stellar explosions
Stars aren't for the ocean
They belong in the skies"
Starfish on the Shores of Bali
Penitent waves saunter ashore...
Gently caressing
The brittle frames
Of sunbaked starfish
As their glow fades away.
Their tide-thrashed bodies
Barren and ravaged
In awkward akimbo
among the typical offal
Of the day beyond
The sludge-filled sand;
Their squishy skin
A muddy pelage
coloured a sickly
shade of sadness.
As the vultures arrive
on frigid winds
The seagulls retreat
To come again
But the sea only seeks
to make amends
With you and all of your
Starfish friends
As the waters recede,
The low tide makes
For a shallow grave.
They have run aground
Beneath the docks
In city streets,
In parlour fronts...
Some released
From the undertow
Only to be swallowed
By a bigger swell.
"If there's a glimmer of life
In this relentless blue
It's drifting down
To murky residue."
Starfish strewn and
Scattered like debris...
Cold to the touch
of desensitized hands.
Silenced and subdued
and hopelessly lost...
The ocean never
returned them to us.
"I put you in a bag and I took you home with me
And put you on my mantle in a place I'd always see
I gave up all I had to honour your memory
I lit you a red candle...
Carved you an effigy.
Starfish friend, please forgive me
We were once the closest kin."
-Anemone |
Submission Name: Starfish on the Shores of Bali
