Elegy for Japan

Over the tortured shores of Miyagi,
a spinning uranium sky, full of ghosts,

those taken during lovemaking, meals,
while singing their earthly songs,

whispering stories of their gone lives,
of the broken, the taken, the swept-away:

they tell of Owatatsumi, gathering the bodies
to his sunken necropolis, wrapped to sleep

in his ribbons of kelp; of children stolen by waves,
rocked to rest in the embrace of mermaids;

their passions by the sea, goods of their days,
of the polished mandolin, its gentle tune

carried away from long-fingered hands;
of the silk-tailed calligraphy brush, snapped

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poem by Lauren Tivey
Added by Poetry Lover
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