Some Dark Hurricane

Some dark hurricane clamouring over the ocean
Whipping up its white-tipped waves
This is the day, yes, this must be the day
When the brittle facade of civility
Is abandoned and the sea turns against us
It is black, malevolent and advancing inland
It reaches the harbour where the battleships float

She, the daughter of the sea, tires of stillness
She feels compelled to walk towards those great waves
Not caring what lies beneath. She feels as though
She is standing on the edge of the world and there
Is nowhere to go but onwards, into the stormy grey
Hue. She raises her eyes, looks upward and encounters
A yellow eye- it is the sun. She is swept away by the deluge

Washed up, she lies, face down in the rock pool
The sea has no need of her anymore
Death was not kind to her. She did not emerge
Unscathed. She did not leave a beautiful corpse
Neighbourhood kids cheer and laugh
The grown-ups have no energy to chastise them
They turn away from what they cannot understand

Uniformed men do their work. swiftly, competently
The villagers follow the upward curve of the mountain path
Asking, 'How did this come to pass?'
For they never heard her cry
They never heard her scream
Eyes meet eyes but have no answers
Only questions, questions, questions.