Ocean Depths Poem by R. H. Peat

Ocean Depths

This tide from the past reappears
in the moment, and the Ocean
arises to reflect the slow caress
that haunts the shoreline with a kiss.

Lovers are unprepared when a ghost-ship
returns to visit their lost passions.
The sandy bed is left empty and silent,
yet the visitor returns in churned grief.

Swift ocean waves roll over them,
hitting them with an undertow.
Their virtue — falls overboard, and
the waves have their way with them.

They do not control this rough sea,
nothing controls its path, its depth
with a force that drags iron anchors.
Would they know its sunken treasure
revealed to them within the day light.

A nuance found in every word, gesture
like silk: each breath — a spring garden.
The unforgotten is where oblivion
laughs in darkness. That pang once held
blooms again; a reincarnated rose.

Ancient dust settles back on a new rug.
A moon-shadow slips through curtains.
A memory reveals its slight touch.
A drop, a wine stain on the table cloth.
The grace from that day drowns again.

Numbness dwells amid the hurricane.
A torrent arrives to sweep and wash
the decks with wild wind and rain.

They are gypsies to their crazy passions
from years ago. The storm devours
their flesh and gnaws on their bones.
The wide eye holds its deep, quiet center.



Notes
© RH Peat 4-4-2019
Form: 8 stanzas,34 lines.
(1- tercet,4- quatrains & 3 central cinquains)
Published: Poetic Bond IX: —2019
Willowdown Books 2019, Pg.24