Friday 5 May 2017

And The People Gather

And the people gather
Out in the desert sands
Around the dead steel monster
That lies in the wastes.

Hull half buried, the empty barrels
Of cannon pointing across the dunes
The ragged remains of a banner
Dangling from a canted mast above.

And the people gather
Wondering how it came to be
Out in the desert, and what

The half-effaced words painted on the hull may mean
“THIS IS OUR SEA AND OUR LAND
FOREVER WERE AND ALWAYS WILL BE
WE WORSHIP VICTORY”

The people have never seen the sea.

But the chiefs look out across the desert wastes
And murmur, “This must be something of the enemy
The enemy looks in envy at us.
This is our land, forever,
And nobody shall take it from us.”


Copyright B Purkayastha 2017

1 comment:

  1. Good poem. Not clear who the shipwreck was supposed to represent. The insignia isn't standard for any navy. So I guess it's generic? Anyway, I liked it.

    MichaelWme

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