Amaranth

Waves have a way of giving back.
A little boy swept to the shore.
The ocean is too old to take a child in.
Here Fado take this child.

She leaves him on the beach.
Face down.
Arms spread out.
He is too heavy for my bosom.
His limbs are swollen from the salt.

He wailed for his mother all night
and kept looking out his window.
Fado I cannot close his eyes.
Take him back.
Give him to the waves when you know
where he must go. I will see what I can do.
Perhaps like this we will always
keep our dead children.

Reviews

[Shimmerbliss/CAF]

One of the most unforgettable pictures...so full of sadness and futile questions. Your work is special even when it is stings of tragedy. A stone has fallen in my heart as I read this again and remember. Why must the innocent suffer?...such questions. As always your work sings to me even in grief.

[...]

They use Amaranth in Mexico to make a candy called Alegria . Alegria in Spanish means happiness:) However, this piece is not happy, so sad :( I specially love the first stanza. It is quite beautiful in its sadness because it touches, deeply.

[Abhra]

I use the title Amaranth as a reference to the little syrian boy who drowned in the sea. Since amaranth are short lived plants and often have very beautiful red flowers. incidentally he was wearing a red t-shirt in the photo that came out in the news. That image is so hauntingly sad. He remains in the sad recesses of the mind.

[...]

We are all short lived, really, and yet, never ending. Loss is only felt by the ones left behind. He is as never ending as the universe now :)

[Abhra]

Yes true. It all depends on what our default is. A child is too young considering the average life expectancy these days. Yes he survives perhaps as molecules but not as a sentient being. Thank you for your reading and appreciation. :)

[.]

-- i thought this was about the Syrian boy... but i couldn't quite connect the dots between "Amarnath" and the piece coz maybe i don't know enough about the "Amarnath Yatra"...

-- "Give him to the waves when you know where he must go" is the most compelling line in this piece for me... -- the tragedy was profound and i can see that this piece is written by someone who was moved...

[Abhra]

Hi Serah, It is Amaranth which is a class of short lived plant often producing red flowers. :) Thanks for reading and commenting.

[.]

-- oh no... i'm so sorry... i think i was reading something about the PM's visit to Kashmir and thinking about the Amarnath Yatra... and the bias crept it... -- so very sorry...

[Corset]

when fate hands us a child it is a soft song of love, when fate takes back that child it is a moan, loud and long inside your heart that no one can hear but you.

[Abhra]

I know what you mean. Not all of is just fate though that is the saddest part. This is about the Syrian boy who drowned in the sea and his body was found on the shores. What is happening there is not just fate. The photo of the child came out on newspapers and it was possibly the saddest photo that I will ever see.

[Corset]

I haven't seen that and I hope you'll forgive that I don't look it up, too many depressing things in this world without looking for them. It's a beautiful poem you made for him.

[Abhra]

Thanks for reading and commenting. :)

[Corset]

my pleasure, I hope you write more and more often!