JEEWAN RAMLUGUN
As ever some tragedies
just wait to happen,
grievous auguries
there out in the open.
Oil in grim blackness
is upon our untroubled waters
reaching our pristine shores,
helpless sea lives easy prey,
safety and sanctity violated,
an agonising end.
Livelihood from fishing
has an abrupt ending,
help to survive needed.
The breathtaking barrier reef
in spuming splendour
is being pummelled
by the run-aground bulk carrier
delicate corals bearing the brunt,
a pitiful sight,
surrounding beaches
unenjoyable.
To cleanse and clear it all
will be hard toil
amid the dying and dead
creatures.
This has happened and happens
all over our world too often,
now Covid 19 miseries compounded,
the environment again tainted
no end,
a terrible price for progress,
conscience not pricked,
senses not awakened.
But the sea is longsuffering
as the earth is;
in time all be well, as if nothing
inimical occurred, as memories
short soon lose sight
of shortcomings and mistakes,
and lessons learnt get forgotten,
all back to the mundane routine
except time itself may run out
and endless hopes with it.