A Brief Moment Out of Time
A year ends under a monstrous wave.
Eleven countries bury their dead, and
Cry for the hopelessness of what is.
Water recedes, spitting out what once was
Mother, sister, brother, new born, friend.
Like small broken shells they wash to the shore,
Picked over carefully by the living.
They look for what was theirs,
In a brief moment out of time.
Nature clawing back centuries of structure,
Ecosystems of every kind, fallen.
Into the maw of an ocean starved,
Proven by its savage molestation of the land.
Showing no discrimination while it swallowed
Cities, islands, and all that inhabited.
Then, fully gorged sluggishly withdrew
Leaving the remnants of its meal behind.
Tears of the living, blood of the dead,
Mingled with the salt of sea.
New rivers were born,
In a brief moment out of time.
poem by Kathy Koppang
Added by Poetry Lover
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