Poem by Isaac Gadberry inspired by The Islands of the Rose Apple Tree Surrounded by the Oceans of the World for You, Oh My Darling

Sculpture The Islands of the Rose Apple Tree Surrounded by the Oceans of the World for You, Oh My Darling, by Alice Aycock

Poem by Isaac Gadberry

 

Wind shrieking, rain whipping

Across their face, they can see the mountain in the distance,

Poor souls, forever lost to the world,

Water, longing to feel the warm embrace of skin.

 

The rock has long maintained its

Position, rising and falling at the whim of the moon,

It was just cresting the surface when it split the hull in two,

It will stay there long after they have withered into its deep crevice.

 

The look-out was asleep, lying in the

Nest, he did not make it to the stranded crag,

He surely would not have lasted long if he had,

They would not have let him on.

 

Setting sun illuminates the weathered

Outcrop, shadows of countless mussels and starfish,

The rain has stopped, thick mist swells with potency,

Water is rising above their ankles.

 

In the first world war, many soldiers in the trenches would develop trench foot,

But that would take far too long.

 

Far Too Long