Facing death
I step back from the light
into life’s darkness

The nights
after my death
my wife rocks
herself to sleep
in my favorite chair.

 

On the beach

I want to fly but fall like

a silent prayer.

My limbs are an anchor

as I slip beneath the surface.

Once struggling palms lie flat

as gentle waves rock me.

Seaweed strands of hair mingle

with the sigh of my breath,

I grasp the hands of my

companions,

my only thing of value.

 

Everything beautiful is here,

all that was lost.

Birds chorus to the stones that

mark the  resting place of a

thousand warriors  in repose  in an

estuary of flowers.

 

art by Abel Tasman

 

 

103 thoughts on “Estuary of Flowers”

  6. Your beautiful poem, Holly, recalls to me I studied in 1964 he associations of plants inside an large estuary in my area to show how they were distributed according to the salt content of the mud. Inside this estuary I was almost alone among the plants … and the bees. As you say I felt a great peace .
    Love ❤
    Michel

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  9. Thank you Rene. Your poem gives life to those who experienced that day on 6 June 1944 and the horrific days that followed to Berlin. My great uncle was part of the invasion and was hit six times by a German machine gun on the beach. He lived, but it took several years for him to recover. He once said that after living through that, nothing in life ever seemed hard or painful after that. He is gone now like most of our WWII veterans. I can clearly visualize the scene, I can see the wounded, and having spent my time in Army hospitals recovering my own life, I can feel the compassion the living offer the dying, and the respect for the dead. Every service member knew their time would come too and it was a great surprise for the survivors as it was for me to be home again. Your beautiful dedication is a meaningful expression of the truth one comes to know on the battlefield and the remembrance of those who will remain forever young in our minds though we grow old and frail.

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      1. I totally agree Rene. I used to tell people that no one wants peace more than the ones who must fight the war. The powerful nations must look closer at solutions to root causes. Defense is imperative but perpetuating conflict is a fools game and no one wins but there are unfathomable numbers of lives and resources lost on all sides, resources that could have effectively worked to reduce the causes of widespread social and cultural collapse.

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          1. Thank you as well Rene, it is far easier to grasp the sacrifice of freedom through the gift of your poetry that takes us to that sacred personal level than the discordant shouts of impassioned crowds for and against. 🤗

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        1. It’s not necessary and I debated this because I am so against war. But this was a necessary war much to our sorrow. When we have leaders who declare war out of greed or power and send young men and women to fight when they themselves dodged war…well it’s all very wrong.

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          1. Agreed. I spent one year in the military when there was still military service in France. I have some idea. Your family was in the service right?
            Enjoy the week-end without the other idiot. I think he’s busy in Europe.

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    1. Thank you so much Frank. I haven’t been tempted to visit Omaha beach and I lived within driving distance for a couple of years. I might feel different if I were among the soldiers left that endured that horror.

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