Ocean's Breath Of Despair

• Jae Min Park, Grade 12
• Poetry
• 2008

In the violent winds, past dark stains of blood can be tasted,
yet my wicked laugh was to them, only a stronger tide.
Even now my presence frightens all creatures to hide,
then how come the memories I engraved on men are long erased?

A child rushes to her mum and cries,
‘the sea doesn’t like me, it’s not fair!’
While the valiant ones wonder after the withdrawing waves,
lured them, I did, into the breath of despair.

The ocean exhales his destructive breath,
a deafening silence, the land trembles in fear.
The low grumble announce their sentence of death,
as all that stand in my Kraken’s* path disappear.

Now three years hence, as I listened to the children’s laughter,
I heard a small boy describe me as a mere statistic of 9.3!
I roused up in anger, ready again to unleash my power- but then,
he began to weep. Grudgingly, I subdued it into a weak tremor.

Note- * Kraken – A legendary sea monster.