Samuela Dsouza- Author & Artist
A River of Blood
The river glinted in the early moonlight like liquid rubies and pure tinted gold. Rocks
skimmed under the surface in goblets of sapphire and sulphur. The world was stretched and
pulled apart, tearing at the seams. Like a needle through worn cloth the river winds, a seam
of scarlet that follows where the world splits itself. Destruction and chaos are the blades of
grass, stained every hour by the foam of the river. It rages and cries as a tormented soul
would, the thrum rooted into the very depths of the earth. None know of its origin. None
know of its birth.
Only that where war and destruction goes, it follows.
Maybe people cry from its depths. Maybe when you look into the restless waves, the face
you see is not your own. Maybe it burst from the cavity of a long-dead heart, eons ago. A
heart that pined for love and war, a heart that succumbed to the fire that followed.
Gems lay scattered as numerous as rocks. Diamonds and coal and melted gold. No one
puts their hand down there though. The treasure remains pure. For the hand that goes down
is forever stained, the flesh wilted by specks of blood. Blood that will never wipe off.
Maybe one day this river will flood our cities. Take over the buildings and stain them
rose red. Maybe people will see the river and run, afraid and trembling, knowing it will drown
them out, as your sins eventually do. Maybe scarlet will blossom in the mountains, the river a
vein of anger that blemishes our world.
Or maybe we became the blemishes. Evolved from something of innocence and faith to a
people that lusted for war.
Perhaps that river will one day run, cold as the ice we purge from our hearts. Perhaps that
river will one day come; will wash over us all.
A river of blood.
Image generated by AI
Invisible (Written in the perspective of Agnes McHugh by Tina Shaw)
When the bell rings like sparks in my ears,
And the people walk to class.
Like somnambulists,
Barely glancing at the people they pass.
Boys, feeble minded things,
They flock around Diane like birds,
Ignoring the bell, which still persists to ring,
Pushing and shoving like a mindless herd.
Vying for her attention,
Ignoring me completely-
Without even the slightest mention.
As if I am invisible.
A slight jealousy sparks inside,
But I know it's to be expected,
People have always passed me by
Cutting remarks hidden under the guise of a joke.
“Laugh it off” my brain used to say,
Until it stopped caring.
So now I pass those bustling, fawning creatures,
Like princes bowing to their Queen-
A little spark still wishes,
That I would be the one to give them the cold stare,
The one who waves off their compliments,
Like Diane,
Their precious Queen.
So I walk off, trying not to be miserable,
As the boys I know I’ll never interest,
Push past me like I’m invisible.
It Ends Here
What happened along the way?
Where did we go wrong?
Maybe the earth was telling us all this time.
Maybe there were signs we missed.
Perhaps the day the birds left us,
In a blur of sugar-gilded white.
They took to the sky in a swarm of millions.
No one saw them after that night.
Mayhap the time the plants died.
Withered fields of black.
Stems and great trees dried up in a second,
The world heaved a sigh of defeat.
Its lungs had given up,
Along with grain and wheat.
Maybe it was after,
When oxygen masks became a norm.
When the sky blazed in a neon sheet,
And the world burned
In an inferno of unnatural heat.
Or maybe even after that,
When the ocean rose in a crescent of blood.
When the stars melted into the endless black,
And trash spewed back onto our mud.
Mayhap we shouldn’t have ignored it.
Maybe we should have taken to the skies then.
Instead of watching the grey sludge pile up,
And tsunami’s claim countless lives.
When earthquakes wracked the very earth,
Perhaps we should have fled.
But so caught up were we,
In our own twisted reverie,
Of how perfect this world could be;
That we ignored the signs.
Now, I look back and regret it.
Others left in their sleek rocket-ships—
Sailed at the last sign of trouble.
They left the earth to us,
As bit by bit it crumbled.
Why I didn’t leave myself?
I have no answer.
All I knew is the earth pulling at me through the soil,
Begging me to watch,
As it payed the price for our misuse.
As dead sea-creatures flailed on our ragged shores,
And mountains plummeted into sand.
As snow slid off the glaciers,
And swallowed up our land.
Maybe if we hadn’t been so cruel.
Maybe if we had listened and watched—even soared away with the birds.
But I’m stuck down here as the earth folds.
Fissures and cracks;
A blue earth no modern currency
Can ever buy back.
The last humans on Earth join hands,
As a wave hurtles over streets.
It overpowers the tall skyscrapers,
Levels decades of labor.
Watch, the sapphire wave screams,
At one with the breaking planet
As it sweeps us up in gentle arms,
Fills our noses and lungs.
Watch as it ends here
As I sink your worthless cities and towns
Know it is because of you
This planet drowns.
My Perfect Blue World
Here the sun doesn’t shine.
No, it’s simply a stretch of cobalt that never ends nor begins.
Here fronds of emerald seaweed dance in the lull of currents.
Here, fish bask like multi-coloured jewels.
Here, I am alone. An endless void of me, myself and I.
As the ocean has no beginning, nor do I.
The sirens know me by name,
Tails of silver and scarlet swish by my face.
Schools of tuna swim by me,
Curious. Just curious.
They don’t care about my colour nor race.
I can be as jade as a forest,
As bright as the sun.
Grey like a strip of concrete.
It doesn’t matter.
Because down here, nobody cares.
Sharks open their great maws in glass circlets.
Jellyfish sway in tendrils of transparent pink.
All by myself. Because that’s what I always wanted.
Away from the rat-race that is life up there.
Where buildings suck the hope from the streets.
Where clouds of ravens rest on roofs,
And rain pours down in sheets.
Bad things happen up there.
They fill this blue world with silty black.
Pollute the swarms of ocean creatures;
And give them milky white eyes.
Eyes that cannot see.
They melt the glaciers in the south.
Cool our waters until I cannot breathe.
Until our home rises to claim—
What may one day destroy her.
But for now, I needn’t worry,
I can float through underwater caves filled with mackerel.
Dive between arms of neon coral.
Flit through delicate foam filigrees;
Bask on the surface with the greatest whale.
Chase down scuttling crabs and seahorses,
With the brightest tails.
Here, I am whoever I want to be.
The loveliest mermaid.
An inquisitive seal.
Maybe one day I’ll dive with the dolphins;
Into the setting golden sun
That melts into our home,
Everyday.
I can be free
So down I lurk;
In the deepest darkest crescent curls,
Of my great, wonderful ocean.
My perfect blue world.
Take Me Back
The stars here are orange.
Tamarinds in a yellow sky.
They loom o’er tall lemon buildings,
And sulphur wagons that can fly.
Many-limbed creatures,
Crawl on the concrete ground.
They look at me with intelligent eyes.
Glass stretches around
Their necks; pale as their evening skies.
Oh, if only I could go back;
No one would believe me!
They’d think I was mad—raving about
Talking glass creatures and lemon skies.
Not to mention the wagons that can fly!
They’d lock me up no questions asked,
And I’d spend my days looning,
About this strange and beautiful place.
The people here aren’t...people
No, not really.
They’re silver-blue hulking giants,
With rubies in their fists.
They loom over me by at least fourteen feet,
They’re eyes are pearl and obsidian.
They roam around the street,
Never sparing me a glance.
Who knows what happens here?
They talk in a foreign tongue.
I tried to make a giant speak to me,
But he only pointed at the sun!
Strange, ridiculous happenings around here!
I only know one thing.
If I ever encounter a human
In this confusing world of white and black—
The only thing I intend to do,
Is beg them to take me back!
Mantel
I have always been there.
When you were a child, with stubby little fingers.
When you reached for the sky but could not catch it.
When you cried tears of salt in your cradle.
When your mother reached down and kissed your forehead.
And you looked up,
With round, jade eyes.
You ceased to cry.
You never saw me.
Not then, not now.
I ticked by slowly,
Counting down the hours,
For your next meal.
For your stories.
When you were older,
You looked up at me and waited.
Waited eagerly for your friends to come.
So you could play.
That was your little world.
And I looked on from above.
When you were older still,
You looked at me for the time.
To see how late you were.
You gave an anguished cry when I slowed;
I only slowed so you would stop worrying
Stopped so you could look around.
Enjoy the life you’d been missing.
By then you had your own life.
Later still you went out; when the sky drained of light.
I saw you sneak out the window,
As your mother bid you goodnight.
You looked at me so you could deceive her.
Set me back by hours.
You came home late that morning.
But still I ticked faithfully on.
As years passed you left.
Left without a glance at me.
At your lifelong friend—
Waiting on the mantle for you.
When you came back years later,
You were surprised to see that I lived yet.
To see that I still bade the time,
You had one day set.
But of course you forgot;
All about that night.
So when I refused to rewind,
You gave up on me.
You passed me down to your child,
Whom I watched from atop the bedside.
She fiddled with my strings with grubby hands.
Hands you once had.
I came apart at the seams.
Clock and marble and arms.
Numbers down my spine,
Lay scattered on the table.
When you called for dinner,
Your daughter forgot about me.
Your old bedside clock.
Come apart at the seams.
She left me on the sill.
At an odd angle.
So still I faithfully wait,
Remembering our years past.
When you were mine,
And I watched over you;
From your bedside mantel.
Betrayed So She Waits
PART ONE
Carefully, carefully, you wound her curls through your fingers.
A touch of crimson blotted the chocolate of her skin.
You whispered into her ear,
Sweet promises and empty nothings.
Pretty tidings you never intended to keep.
Hush, you whispered, as you brushed her eyes.
Trust me.
She laughed—a merry tinkling of bells and snow,
As the lust in your heart starts to grow.
Under the looming starlit night,
You kiss her lips and hold her tight.
Under the crescent light of the waning moon,
You regard her like you would a boon.
You loop words through her waist and hair,
A pretty promise made of empty air.
You hold her hand and trace her neck,
A touch you stopped expecting
To make you feel.
Too many times this has happened.
Too many times.
You lured in girls of snow and sage,
Of rich little houses and common maids.
You whispered loving sweetness into their hearts.
As meaningless as your empty caresses.
But her, you think, as the maiden sleeps,
She could come to mean the world to me.
I could wake up to her sapphire eyes.
To rosebud lips and lovely lies.
No! You mustn’t think of her that way.
She’s a pretty pastime and nothing more!
So flee you do, with your restless heart,
Leaving the onyx maiden asleep.
One day I’ll return, you promise, one day soon.
But for now you resolve to leave her;
Under the dying moon.
​
PART TWO
You live your life as well as could be.
You marry a wonderful lass from a rich family.
You awake to pretty locks of red.
To a well endowed wife and a tidy bed.
Everything as it should be.
But still, your stubborn heart inquires.
In all its tireless thoughts, wondering aimlessly,
What of that beautiful maiden,
I promised to one day see?
So you slip by rich yellow trees,
Each whispering a warning,
Your lovesick ears cannot hear.
You slip by the rustling brown branches,
Frantically pushing you back.
But you press on, blind to the world’s foretelling.
You come to the banks of a silken river.
You one day tossed upon its banks;
With a beautiful young woman,
Of charcoal and ash.
Come, you call, your heart pining,
For no reason you can tell.
For that dappled girl,
You left on its banks.
From the shadows slip a wonder,
A flash of sapphire eyes.
You open your mouth in wordless joy,
She came back!
You open your arms,
Knobbled skin stretching over your tired fingers.
One last look, you promise,
And I will leave.
Back to my wife and children
Away from this river wreath.
The girl slips into your arms,
The same as the day you left.
Her ebony curls,
Still fit into your weathered palms.
Her chocolate skin,
Still moves against your caramel flesh.
You kiss her rosebud lips,
Time and time again.
You tell her with all your heart,
That she is yours.
And you are hers.
Forever
But she glances up at you.
And your heart breaks all over again,
To see the sadness in her blueberry eyes.
What must I do?, you lament, For you to believe me?
Her hands raise to your own,
You hold them to your lips.
And promise your sweet nothings,
To hold her always.
But before you can glide away again,
Run between the shadows,
The girl holds you tight.
Tighter than before.
You caress her golden cheek,
But she does not let go.
You kiss her molten forehead,
Every precious second.
But her hands only pull together,
Until you cannot see anything;
But her.
You choke, eyes slipping open and close,
A ruby smattering of stars,
Lines your lover’s face.
Her eyes are cold jewels,
Her hands the tightest vice.
You beg and you plead.
You promise to love.
To never leave.
But the world dulls at the edges,
And she is but a charcoal smear,
Pulling at your throat,
Tighter and tighter.
I love you
The words slip out,
Like water from your flapping tongue.
The maiden of ash leans closer,
Returns the promise.
The earth is nothing but her.
No feeling but those able arms around your throat.
The same wind that warned you,
Rustles at your feet as you fall.
As the girl hits home—in one swift embrace.
As all those promises you made that fateful day;
At last come true.
As the moon you left her neath’
Now leaves you.
Death in a Cup (partly inspired by Proverbs 23:29-35)
Part 1
You lift mottled, speckled fingers,
to the fine arm of scarlet.
Memories slip through your mind,
forgotten in a haze of wine.
​
You lift the cup to your lips.
Come. Taste. Forget.
You drown your wisdom in frequent sips,
along with your pain.
Your regret.
​
Hollow echoes of laughter trace your ears.
You bat at the empty air,
shedding a thousand meaningless tears.
​
You wail,
a keening, animalistic sound.
You stare at the bloodred cup,
as if looking long enough
will let you drown.
​
You stagger through the streets,
spilling nay a single drop.
Your eyes are shot through with crimson—
as if somehow
the wine has spread through your blood,
in an unstoppable violent filigree.
As if all you are,
and all you ever will be,
is perverted by that rouge, silent flood.
​
Your throat is soothed.
You are impossibly contented.
A lyre of dark, melancholy wine,
that spins and dances with your twisted mind.
The loveliest music you ever did hear,
a promise of warmth, of hope, of unfathomable splendor.
​
But then, from the lips of night,
a lonely traveler advances.
You lift your hands to fight,
to what end,
only you know.
But sudden shadows converge
and you turn around to go.
​
Fists pummel you,
but you cannot feel them;
'Why can't I see them?'
The rose bubbles of champagne cloud you.
Delirious, you think you can see,
wine's red eyes, boundless as the sea.
​
Needle-sharp pain spears through you.
Like blood and love and lonely tears.
Bruises bloom on your hands and feet,
painted by faceless phantoms you cannot see.
​
You shout and yell,
but the night reveals no secrets.
The shadows dissapear,
you question their existence to begin with.
Trickles of gutter water touch your hand.
You see your cup,
the most alluring crimson sand.
​
Your breath fogs over your mouth.
You are surprised.
You are still alive.
The sun spills its unfathomable colors;
a brushstroke only the true Artist could ever paint.
You are a dot, a concept, a number.
But you feel nothing,
as numbness starts to devour,
your toes and ankles,
your back and behind.
As it creeps through
your alcohol-muddled mind.
​
You find yourself hovering,
over a cold body.
Whose unfurled fingers show
that at the last,
he held his precious cup to his chest,
as if it held frankincense and myrrh.
As if the blood jewels that snake through the stone,
hold the world's greatest treasure.
​
But still, you are unconvinced.
'A life lived in pleasure is a life well-lived.'
That's the lie you utter.
But your fantasy is short-lived.
For your life soon flashes before your eyes.
Now you know what it is to die.
​
​
Part 3
They try to mend your birds.
But the cracks spiderweb;
no longer in your control.
All those rotten, filthy words,
prompted by the loving hand of wine
break your family into a thousand pieces.
Splintered at the root.
Blood and glass. Love and alcohol.
A painless, cutting fall.
​
They leave you,
still wallowing in the scent of your true lover.
Wine will never leave you.
No, she kisses your arms with passion,
she clears your mind,
until all you can see is her.
Until you are willing to leave everything behind
to be with her.
​
But you are so caught up in that freedom.
You see not the yellowing skin.
You don't see the nails she digs into your chest.
How she watches you struggle
for every breath.
​
You see now.
​
You see every kiss is laced with a promise.
See every embrace is streaked with guilt.
She dangles accusations above your head.
You cannot get up,
you stay in bed.
​
You see yourself that fateful night.
How the haze of alcohol seeped into your mind.
How wine soothed every blow and fall,
how she whispered in your ear,
telling you to give your all.
​
You watch. You are brought back.
You see an old man with yellowed skin.
His eyes empty of life.
Hardened hands that reek of sin.
You see how he clasps,
his one and only love to his grey chest.
Wine licks her lips and smiles.
Now you are mine.
​
You see her now, for what she truly is.
A poison that cools the tongue before it bites.
A honeyed viper in the end.
A liar that steals your life.
​
You wonder how you could be so blinded.
How you could leave the ones
who loved you true.
To seek after something
that would one day destroy you.
​
You sigh,
as you leave a new carcass
underneath a whispering sky.
'How?', you lament, as you leave him behind.
As his blood mingles with his beautiful wine.
​
As the life you lost shatters with
your final breath.
You look up.
'If only I hadn't indulged Death in a cup'
​
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Part 2
You see a young girl with ebony locks
playing in a salt-grass plain.
You see yourself caressing an empty cup;
In the girl's eyes,
the most innocent pain.
​
You see an old mother,
sewing stitch after stitch in an endless cloth.
She mutters and condones,
bruises that match your own
cover her chest and face.
She glances at you,
luster-lacking and full of strife.
A sweet madness of your creation,
that has haunted her all her life.
​
You run back,
unable to believe,
your life was wasted
by that loving caress of wine.
'No', you whisper,
'My life was mine'
​
You watch a choppy sea of memory,
foam and froth and fall.
All tinged a blood moon,
the color of the richest alcohol.
​
Light buzzes in your eyes.
A young man,
dreams and ambitions stretched wide.
A medley of the most comforting lies.
​
But the façade doesn't last. You watch,
as you are beaten back at every turn.
As your bosses shun you,
as that young lass you set your heart on
slips out of your grasp.
​
The world is pressing at you,
it's maw a tenacious, deadly grin.
It will be unsatisfied if it cannot have you,
cannot make you succumb to sin.
​
On cue, you see a slender flute of wine.
Come.
The feathers of a lovely maiden, dancing in a hypnotizing line.
Taste.
You take an endearing sip, promising not to be blinded by its shine.
Forget.
​
You see now.
That's where you lost.
Your ambition curls on the floor, dead.
Indecipherable from that lovely, soothing red.
​
Your many attempts at success
are blotted out by sips of spirit.
You forget all your dreams
as promised.
The years and people are but a blur
a tapestry pulled apart at the seams.
​
You meet another bonny lass.
You promise, as the wine takes over,
to never indulge again.
You kiss your wife's lips
secretly wishing they were the lips of wine.
​
That sweet adulteress,
always on your mind.
​
You cry out in pain now.
Too late. Something laughs,
it's breath like yours.
Twisted and shallow and lustful.
Was it worth it?
​
The echoes fade as you yell and scream.
But you are too late.
You see how you shout at your wife,
cursing your family,
cursing your life.
​
You watch as you constantly blame,
to numb your need,
that sickening pain.
​
You are helpless as you see
You were never free.
Alcohol always lurks at the edges,
a beautiful distraction.
The kindest muse.
​
You observe flightless, broken birds
forged from a thousand meaningless words,
leap and sizzle and grasp.
Things unsaid, forgotten promises.
Wine curls it's fingers down your back.
Forever, forever, you are in it's clasp.
​
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Odyssey of an Immortal Jellyfish
I ebb and grow
I see afresh
Yet my core is
The same.
Polyps surround me
They drift into the current
With fine tendrils
Of tentacled filament.
All of them are me
I am all of them;
Yet they leave
With my memories.
The time when giant turtles basked
Over me,
When great sharks far more vast
Than these white-bellied predators
Devoured whales and glided past
On sugar-speckled wings.
Sun-warmed waters
And the swoop of darkness
Anglerfish fused to each other
Frilled skeleton fish following their mother.
The crash of meteorites into the land
A rippling current
That pilfered the sand.
Luminous creatures
Floating high above.
I break off,
My clear bell
Clenching with every stroke.
I remember.
I remember.
Wooden canoes that cut through the sea
Drifting fingers
Through the waves, sifting memory.
I cling onto metal hulls
Sweep through the foam
Reach the place
Those humans call home.
A brown face patterned with ink.
Children crowd around as I wash ashore
Something I never do anymore.
They whisper to their grandmother, with old sea eyes.
She doesn’t touch me;
As if she knows how little things
Can be dangerous.
‘Rama Moana’
Ocean Lantern.
The memories flood me
Like songs.
The blood moon tinted
Reflects on scales diving free;
I feel the sea swell around me.
A huge maw opens
Creatures thrall
Unable to resist the call
Of time immemorial.
Whales croon,
They break through the wild
A haunting, shivering tune
Of a new calf child.
Filigreed arms brush me by
They whisper tales of a blue sky.
A sodden, hidden cry
I hear as I grow.
My body expands
It welcomes the sea
I feel the tides
Shudder through me.
​
Plankton I grip
With my stinging tentacle
I feel a swarm of krill
Sweep past in joyful bubbles.
​
An orca’s beady, onyx eye
Blood blooms as it feeds.
The belly of a dolphin
Looms over me.
​
I am insignificant to them.
No bigger than a shell.
Yet I have outlived them all.
​
​
I swoop away,
Now swollen with the sea
A husk of translucent memory.
I am a jewel,
A molten heart, I descend.
I see and remember
Beginning to end.
​
Now what faces me?
A steely black beak
Open wide.
Panic thrums within me
Animalistic instinct
I cannot overcome.
I sweep the blue into my arms
Push with every tentacle
I strain every limb
I swim.
​
Downy plumes of grey feathers
Golden-speckled eye.
Flapping charcoal wings
I know cannot fly.
​
Close. Too close.
I sting, but it knows
I am too small.
A bite.
​
Half of me is gone.
I sink, cold as night.
I lay here for a while
I feel nothing.
I am the sea.
The sea is me.
​
Now I know
I have to turn back time
To reclaim what’s mine.
My cells come apart
Each of them me.
My memory expands like a silver loom.
Polyps grow from my cells.
Each slivers
Fragments like broken shells.
But I feel no pain.
Only sea sense that spreads through me.
Us.
Down here, everything is a lie, everything is true.
We float into the arms of eternal blue.
​
A leviathan moans
Treasure buried ‘neath human bones.
​
‘Come,’ the sea whispers, heartbeat resonating
Through us.
‘Come.’
I begin again.
Why do you come here
Weary traveler?
Why do you seek the story
The stars have to tell?
​
‘I have to know
What happened here.
I have to know
who was to blame.’
​
Listen then.
Azure and emerald
This planet was.
Water and land.
The first planet in creation
To ever stand
In the void of starless black.
​
Then we came.
We saw the centuries pass.
Humans drifted like lonely rivers.
They sought to build a better world.
They came together as one
Found love through soft embraces
Found peace
In other hands.
​
They grew plants
From soil’s clasp
They kneaded earth to form clay
They built towers.
Hunted, gathered flowers.
They saw the wonder in a way
Stars like us can only dream.
They considered Earth’s workings
They stitched broken seams.
​
They forged gold and discovered cities
Tamed forests
Conquered loneliness with sweet lies
Built machines
That pilfered the skies.
​
But there was something wild in man.
Like a moth attracted to flame.
They were inquisitive, questioning;
call it what you will.
We saw how ideas could blossom,
But we also saw how they could kill.
​
We watched in wonder
as they progressed evermore.
As they formed divisions
Amongst themselves.
As they separated
Black and white,
As mankind splintered
Overnight.
​
They fought with each other
In the name of honor.
They spilled blood
In the name of love.
​
They ravaged each other
Laid decades of labor to waste.
They became hungry
Chasing each other in an endless race
For power.
We watched,
Our glowing hearts sad
As people destroyed
Everything they had.
​
Sun beat down
With a ruthless glare
Sizzling the feathers of a swooping lammergeier;
But what could Sun do?
Humans had obliterated Earth’s protective Layer.
​
Orion watched as people
Clawed their way to the top.
The will that had driven them to create
Now was used to take.
It didn’t matter who had to be destroyed
For them to finally be satisfied.
​
We saw them try to accommodate
A growing world.
Watched forests on fire,
Disease pumping into streams,
Sealife trashing on the shore,
No one was safe anymore.
​
Still they did not learn.
Still they chose to look the other way
We stars predicted
Their dying day.
​
Then they drove out the birds;
Morningstar saw them take off
In one twisted, colorless flight.
We didn’t see them
After that night.
​
Matariki saw people sprouting instead of trees,
We saw the sky burn
We saw the oceans weep.
We saw mankind chase it’s own doom.
Hurt each other until
There wasn’t room
For love anymore.
​
Then one day
The Earth fell with a sigh.
It was so silent.
A planet so great
Defeated in an instant.
Its lungs let out a sigh of relief
Smoke puffed out.
Animals wailed in high, keening gasps
Buildings shook,
Factories pitched low, squeaky rasps.
​
Mankind stood then.
At the brink of their blue world.
Their eyes opened; they saw what they had truly lost.
Now, looking back
They saw the cost
Of power.
​
They had taken Earth for granted
Replaced her butterflies and flowers
With robot children and endless towers.
​
So you see, Weary Traveler
Earth burnt as we watched.
Our celestial chests thrummed with ache
As the planet disappeared;
A final twist of fate.
​
But that’s not the end of our story.
From the dome that once was Earth
From her very core,
Came a scarred, glowing diamond
Broken from Earth with a mighty roar.
All that’s left of the vast planet.
So Polaris dipped from Ursa Minor;
A small goblet it was—
We gathered the diamond
Into our arms.
Now it is left to orbit
Around Polaris
For millions of years.
Until this remnant of Earth
Is ready for
Birth.
Perhaps humans will once again traverse the land.
And this time over,
They will do it right.
Until then,
Weary traveler
We will watch from the sky.
Waiting, hoping, dreaming
Of a new world.
We will see and we will guide
We will be the guardians of the night.
Now Weary Traveler,
You must stay and
You must believe
Cherish Earth as it grows from a seed.
Watch they don’t repeat the past,
So we stars needn’t take up an ageless lament
Of Earth’s humans
And her final descent.
The Final Descent: An Elegy
Splintered Wings
I craft clay between my fingers.
Earth and sage and stone.
I cover jewels of topaz, sapphire and gold.
Beautiful, long feathers. Slices of pearl.
I remember now—how I held you when you were but a chick.
When your eyes were milky stars.
When your beak opened to nibble my fingertip.
How the years have passed; seventy summers flew by.
Yet here I kneel; ever faithful.
My fingers fine china;
Under the star magnolia—I first found you in.
In the strange way this world goes;
The same white flowers you were born in
Now litter your grave.
Pearls of snow-clad maidens
Sweep your frozen wings.
How exquisite you were.
The most faithful friend.
You perched on my growing shoulder
Till’ the very end.
Since I was but a lass,
Your shadow was on my hair.
Talons of orange-gold,
Brushed me with the gentlest care.
Now when my summers are past;
When the world greys and fogs in my mind,
You, my darling, are the brightest star.
My jewelled parrot and me. Our hearts entwined.
Alas! But for the rules of this hardened earth,
I would have joined you neath’
The cold dirt,
The mud splayed at my feet.
We would have risen together on wings of time,
Beautiful, wonderful things.
My feathers would be dappled sunlight;
Yours the darkest blue of midnight.
O’er swirling trees of foam and salt,
The magnolia forest spread below.
O’er a trashing sea of scarlet,
That touched my childhood shore.
We would soar past my laughing family,
Playing in the sand.
Under the rays of cobalt sunlight;
That once touched our human hands.
We would break through cotton clouds.
Rise o’er my old home.
Past the jewelled cobbled rocks.
The old weathered stone.
Pass we may o’er the setting sun,
Flanked by your family.
Wisps of old bird spirit,
That blow in the northern breeze.
You’d open your beak to caw.
Stars in your clear eyes.
You’d see me
With wings of amber-kissed sunlight.
Not this faded old skin.
That waits faithfully for you under the magnolia tree.
We’d glide through rainbows of time.
Both present and past.
Our chests swelling, hearts blooming.
We’d glide and soar.
Sweep and sing,
Sweetly forevermore.
As I wait neath’ this magnolia;
I open my dimming eyes and see,
Two shimmering birds,
Held together by scarlet and sapphire strings.
Two birds flying together—
On beautiful splintered wings.
Metamorphosis
He lies here on this dewdrop plain
In the heart of a pulsing forest.
Strips of memory peel without pain
Metamorphosis.
​
Blades of grass spring from his silhouette,
Shadows lace through his hair.
Cicadas come near,
Feelers searching, curious.
​
The moon waxes and wanes
Earthworms burrow through his flesh
Moss creeps into his eyes.
Flowers brush against crescents of nails
Roots thrum past his ears.
A string of snails
Glide past slowly.
​
Butterflies nest in the hollows of his bones
Rabbits hued silver and white
Nestle in his ribcage
To escape the night.
​
A deer cranes her neck;
The wild bubbles,
Wings softly spread
Forest streams rush,
Streaks of pearl.
The trees hush,
Ancient giants that have seen
Destruction and rebirth.
​
Flame licks through the forest
Sudden and swift.
The boy is left alone,
Once more.
Dreamcatcher of bone
And skin
And teeth
And roots
The patter of jungle feet.
​
Saplings unfurl
Their fronds waving.
The sun beats in a relentless wave
Branches rise in timeless synchrony
Surround the forgotten grave
With whispers.
​
The world sifts
Like a blooming flower.
Mushrooms pattern across his skull
The stars dance in a lonely lull
Casting crystals against
What once was an arm.
The cocoon of his clasped finger.
Carrions swoop,
Beady eyes linger.
​
Bird calls fill the air again
Animals hoot and growl.
Panthers blaze trails
He is broken down
​
Dust simmers and settles.
Jewelled fruit falls
Panting antelope bite,
They swallow him down.
​
Hippos emerge like wraiths
Their jaws clamp;
Coils of a sleeping snake;
Antelope disappears
‘Neath the silent lake.
​
Ears flick
Blood blooms into the green.
The boy gleams.
​
Not a figure in the newspaper
Not a box to be checked
Not some number on a chart;
But a living breathing thing
Someone with a booming, beating heart.
​
He is so much more now.
His world is the marshes and wetlands
Birds flying in formation
The forest sucking him into itself.
​
He is no more than the Queen ant;
No more than the dying antelope;
No more than the galloping oxen
Or black-eyed elephants.
​
‘Change,’ croons the thyme bush.
‘Change,’ agrees the maple.
The boy made of leaves and ash
Hollows and swollen shards of bone.
The boy made of wind and bird
The boy who will never be alone
Again.
​
The world simmers,
Silent and full;
Howl, caw, preen, hiss
The boy breathes again.
Metamorphosis.
They don't like it
They don't like it when I'm honest
They don't like it when I'm kind
They don't like it when I lie
Or when I speak my mind.
​
They don't like it when I win
They don't like it if I lose
They don't like if I'm undecided
They don't like when I choose.
​
They don't like it when I colour
Out of the lines,
Or if I ramble
Without a point.
​
They don't like it if they can't understand
My lyrics;
Then they ask me why
I've become so simplistic.
​
They don't like it when I ask
They don't like it when I am silent;
They don't like it when I rhyme
Or my writing becomes violent.
​
They don't like if I'm descriptive
With my words or thoughts
Or if I think I am pretty
In a way they're not.
​
They don't like it when I smile
They don't like it when I cry
They don't like when I'm bold
They don't like when I'm shy.
​
Or if I'm laughing
while they rage;
They don't like they can't
Read me like a page.
​
They don't like it when I'm angry
And it all bubbles out.
They tell me I should've told them
What I was mad about.
​
I can't be funny
Or beautiful
Or ambitious
Or smart;
Without being a loving person
Without having a heart.
I can't be happy and angry
At the same time
Or let my feelings spill
Without any rhyme.
​
All of those,
And what of me?
When did this become
their story?
​
And if I'm everything they ask,
Aren't I nothing at all?
And if I change myself
Bit by bit;
I'll always wonder
If they don't like it.
A Tribute to someone special
I see summer's golden boughs,
Reach for the endless sky.
I see autumn's mulberry flowers,
Pine, wither and die.
I see monsoon’s lonely drops of fire,
Batter the grave earth,
And leave it smelling of incense and desire,
Death and birth.
I see winters cold malice,
Sheath itself on a white Earth.
I see cities and churches that bristle with sound,
Graves that litter the ground.
I see people of all colors and creeds,
Clasp hands in shivering unity,
As they grieve their own piteous deeds.
I see children dreaming of fruitful morrows.
I see urchins still as stone,
Scarred by a lifetime of sorrows.
I see trees branching out to me,
I see the honey-golden-blue,
Of the treacherous sea.
I look at the snowcapped mountains;
The galaxy of spirals,
Stars in an empty sky.
They form constellations,
A lifetime of heartbeats
Fading into Earth's sodden cry.
I see secrets whispered,
By those who think no one is listening;
They do not know of I.
Living in something much more unfathomable Than that place.
I see somnambulistic humans,
Ruin the earth we fought to protect.
I was confined on Earth,
My mind somewhere far greater.
But now, I am unlimited and free,
No longer bound by Earth’s fragility.
I see myself,
Seep below a carpet of dust,
Never to reface.
I see my eyes stare at me with the blackness only Death can provide.
I see myself,
And marvel at the difference,
Between it and me.
For now,
I am no longer bound in captivity.
I am truly alive
Alive and free.
This poem was written when I was a couple of years younger. It is an ode to a special family member, and what I thought he was seeing as he was buried. This poem is really important to me, and I hope it can bring comfort to anyone who has ever lost somebody special to them.
Why must I?
Why must I?
Why must you what?
​
Why must I
Wear the clothes you want me to wear?
Because you're a child.
​
Why must I
Eat the things I don't want to?
Because you're a child.
​
Why must I
Listen to what you say?
Because you're a child.
​
Why must I
Look like everyone else?
Because you're a child.
​
Why must I
Go on a diet?
Because you're a child.
​
Why must I
Go to the gym?
Because you're a child.
​
Why must I
Sleep when you want me to?
Because you're a child.
​
Why must I
Be everything and everyone
For you?
I only want what's best for you.
​
That's why?
That's why.
​
So now I have to
Pull down on these clothes
To squeeze into them.
Have to smile and accept
that you didn't know I was a medium.
Have to fit into them
Not buy them to fit me.
You're confused when my thighs
Don't look like the rest of my body.
​
But you have stretch marks.
Aren't I meant to grow?
You feel ashamed to wear a tube top.
You told me the rolls would show.
​
You told me 'pretty' was an insult.
They were mocking you.
What have you done to that kid,
who couldn't tell what was fat or thin
But most importantly,
the difference?
You needed to grow up.
​But make no mistake,
you are still a child.
​
I used to have hair on my body,
Vellum but there.
It's unhygienic for a girl.
I thought I was a child.
​
Why must I look away
when a man looks me in the eye?
Because you need to pretend
You're the one who's shy.
​
Why must I wear so many clothes?
They'll think you're too forward otherwise.
Why mustn't I wear too many clothes?
They'll be intrigued, they'll flatter you with lies.
Why mustn't I pick fights?
They'll count on you to keep the convo light.
Why mustn't I be too deep?
They won't understand you.
Then why mustn't I be shallow?
They'll make it define you.
​
Can you leave me alone please?
You don't make sense.
I make sense to you. You're just a child.
​
Who are you?
Why must I be what you want?
Don't I get a choice,
Can't I make it right?
I don't remember when you last just let me
Be a child.
​
You are and you aren't.
Stop the complaining, you're too old to cry.
Stop asking me, 'Why must I?'
Deep down you know me;
You always knew.
​
You are me.
And I am you.
Samuela Dsouza- Author and Artist
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