National Poetry Month: Poisoning Amphitrite

April 14, 2017

“Poisoning Amphitrite”

by Svetha Mahadevan, Grade 8, Singapore

From glorious sunrise to crimson sunset,
Your tranquil waters glorify the horizon.

We wade out in your soothing waters,
Pondering on your cerulean hue.

How have you met with such a hapless state?
Needless to say, the iniquitous deeds of man!

O beautiful Ocean! We have contaminated you lucid blue waters,
By pesticides, sewage and plastic wastes.

Titanic had a legendary shipwreck at the feet of your turbulent waves,
Due to the vengeance coursing through your veins.

Oil spills have tarnished your crystal-clear water,
Have caused the demise of the marine creatures you have nurtured for eternity.

Pearls from your oysters adorn our dazzling necklaces,
You give us sea-salt to flavour our eatables.

We have caused tears to roll down your glorious cheek,
But always detested your dangerous storms.

You bless us with water to quench our thirst,
And let us to harness your tremendous power.

We have stained your beauty with plastics,
Unmindful of the rich resources you have bestowed upon us.

As small children, when we splash our feet in your tranquil waves,
Your waves always sang to us a dulcet lullaby.

We have not maintained the purity of your waters,
Instead we have sheathed it with plastics and debris.

Reflection

As a small child when my family and I used to visit a beach near our vacation home, I used to splash in the serene waters of the blue ocean and be greatly enamoured by the starfishes and turtles. Those reminiscences of my personal bondage with the blue ocean cause me to be filled with pity for the marine creatures and the blue ocean which had nurtured them which are on the brink of destruction.

I am a nature-lover and the news of the oil spills caused by Odyssey when it was thousand nautical miles off the coast of Newfoundland which had caused the demise of krill thereby disrupting the food chain really bothered me. I believe that as dutiful children of Mother Earth we should take necessary steps to avert such disasters.  By being more careful and conscious about the lives of other living inhabitants of the Earth we can make our oceans free from contamination to sustain the lives of aquatic organisms on this Earth.

As the great writer, Hermann Broch rightly said,”Those who live by the sea can hardly form a single thought of which the sea would not be part”, all my sweet childhood memories are associated with the serene waters of the Bay of Bengal.