After

 

After

By DeleVan

 

After the ships came and the waters had settled to stillness,

After the sun shattered into a thousand yellow blades of fever,

And the earth lay torn,

Half in acrid drought, half in sopping deluge,

The people knelt bloodied by fog,

And a hush was all that could be heard.

A little child, quiescent and timid, pushed through leaves.

The light staggered her, grasped her by the bone-

She stood still as stone and astutely listened,

Nothing could be heard . . .

The resounding silence her cue to believe,

 After all,

She would live.

Reviews

[An owl on the moon]

An overwhelming introduction, or so it seems... It felt like a stirring preface to a story of a life salvaged from the wreckage... the ponderings of moving on. So much is said in these brief lines. Amazing.. truly.

[R J Askew]

Maybe this is how it was in the new world when the first ships arrived from the old world. Little moments of history. Your poem also puts min in mind of LORD OF THE FLIES. If yu change tht word 'people' to 'tribe' it fits.

[DeleVan Sonta-an DellErba]

Thank you for this review :) ....it was indeed written with a new world coming in mind...