A South Sea Island Man Poem by John Libertus

A South Sea island man, when he grows old, with none to care for,
rather than have a son discover him
with sagging jaw, cold-bodied, breathless, still,
shoves out a little boat, alone,
into the sea

He hears his sons say 'it's been years
but he could still be out there'

The times of the sea, and its hungers
lead a man to logic:
they are not children,
they have learned to dream
the dream becoming true,
and the time has come for mystery, the time has come to find
whose breath it is that draws the waterspout,
that pulls the very sea into the sky;
on land, the dust returns to dust,
at sea, the meat to meat,
but Whose breath is this?