When hurricanes come to die
An original poem.
© 2025 Duleepa Wijayawardhana
All rights reserved. This is an original work of poetry.
Featured in Tales under the cat tree, episode 14.
A speckle of sea foam, rides the breaking waves, rushing ahead of rabid spittle, crashing forward alone undaunted. I wonder if it knows what is left behind?
A feather mocks the other, pulled and frayed on a wing, pelted by rain, pushed by will in an unbending unbroken pace. I wonder if it feels the pain of its partner?
The maelstrom surrounds jutting rocks that shelter shivering shells clumped in hopeful tenterhooks, a naive calm against the spray. I wonder if they can feel the cruel indifference?
A sail balloons in the wind, stretched to breaking, threads splitting, leading the prow to darkened horizons on surf of knife-edged balance. I wonder if it truly knows the way to standing still?
Above I send my questions swirling, striking and smashing bowed trees, battering and pounding howling cliffs, afraid and unfinished, a formless cry, I wonder if I can tell when I will die.
Duleepa Wijayawardhana, August 2025
About the choice of paintings
Why Caspar David Friedrich? Friedrich’s art invokes the idea of our dimunitive stature in the awesome face of nature. I can get lost in the details of his art and the idea of a human standing watching the vastness that is our world.