DEATH OF A CORAL REEF                                
Surf rolls, soft and warm
over coral supremely majestic
Salty air caresses my senses
in relentless pleadings
so much dying to taunt
peace and beauty belie treachery

I kid myself that I understand
but I am forever helpless
                      frustration and guilt
        gnawing away at my soul
        Little chips of dignity
        descend into my heart the abyss

        Tranquillity veils the turmoil
         of millions of years of toil
         it somehow hardly seems fair
         how strangers do not care
         how they marvel at this garden
         aglow with unbridled colour and light
         hundreds of prized polaroid pictures

         Night mostly brings out the pain
         of a million blistering sores
                                               while the fat lady the story soars
         showing off her sparkling new necklace
         glass-bottomed boats in peaceful slumber
         yet eagerly will work another day
         tomorrow a new lot of frenzied scavengers
         clicking and smiling their ignorant smiles

          Ask them¼ Go on, I dare you!
                   What is it they really see?

          Before the dawn the pain surges
          and the swell in my head
  dies down in beaten surrender

 

 

 

 

 

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