Death Of The Sea Poem by Alexander Raju

Death of the Sea

It's an evening, for the sea
And for the vast human sea
Gathered on the sandy beach
To witness her last screech.

The restless sun waits with fire
For her death to light the pyre,
Her last sighs of waves he counts,
Each with death's gurgling sounds.

Chemicals and alkalis
Flow through her heart's alleys,
Biological wastes make way
With acids into her lay.

Through her saline veins flow
Debilitating chemical currents,
Synthetic things her breasts pierce,
Silt and oil blacken her face.

In the stinking beach she gasps
For stream of fresh air,
On the poisoned shores she begs
For a drop of fresh water.

She wriggled and writhed in pain
Her lips dripped white foam
As the restless crowd jeered
Wishing her a speedy death.

*Published in Tree India, a Journal for Environmental Protection, vol.19, no.49. January 2005