Pantoum Poem: THE SEA SWELLS (Satis Shroff)

The pantoum is a poem of any length, composed of four-line stanzas. In each stanza, the second and fourth lines of each stanza, serve as the first and third lines of the next stanza.

Pantoum Poem: THE SEA SWELLS (Satis Shroff)

The sea shells on the sea shore
Suddenly the sea swells.
Ring the church and temple bells.
All is not well.

The sea has gone back.

The sea shells on the sea shore
Brown-burnt Tarzans and Janes

Ring the church and temple bells

From different continents,

The sea has gone back.

Wonder what’s going on.

Brown-burnt Tarzans and Janes

A man from Sweden

From different continents
Is immersed in his thriller under the palms.

Wonder what’s going on.

A mother and daughter from Germany

A man from Sweden

Frolic on the white sunny beach.

Is immersed in his thriller under the palms.

Even the sea-gulls stop and listen

A mother and daughter from Germany

To the foreboding silence.

Frolic on the white sunny beach.

The sea swells and comes back

Even the sea-gulls stop and listen

Brings an apocalyptic destruction:

To the foreboding silence.

Sweeping humans, huts and hotels,

The sea swells and comes back
Boats, billboards and debris.
Brings an apocalyptic destruction:

Cries for help are stifled by the roaring waves.
Sweeping humans, huts and hotels,

The sea goes back.

Boats, billboards and debris.

Leaving behind lost souls,

Cries for help are stifled by the roaring waves
Caught in suspended animation.

The sea goes back.

I close my eyes.

Leaving behind lost souls,

Everything dies.