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BODY ON A BEACH

There’s a body on a mid-winter beach, again:
Bloated by sea water, battered by waves,
The skin an indeterminate grey, the DNA
Gives it away: stomach distended, flesh declined,
Soul departed, a package of hope left behind,
With seaweed dancing from her open mouth
That once kissed another, a mother, a lover.
Spoke words of comfort to the dying, bereaved:
Religion indeterminate, nationality left behind.
Look at the legs that carried the body
Over rugged mountains, across freezing tundra,
Over deserts thirsty, prickly with heat, across borders.
Look at the eyes which read the newspapers, scanned the phones. 
Read holy books, consumed erotic poetry and letters from home.
With a heart that was broken by war, death and disease
she gathered the strength to begin life all over again.
That grey mush was a brain that loved to tussle,
Think and debate. Those bloated fingers wrote elegies
That were gateways to all the planets and stars.
In classical Arabic she argued that it was never too late
To begin life again, sometime, in beautiful Aleppo.

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🌷(7)

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Comments

Uilleam Ó Ceallaigh

Tue 9th Jan 2024 14:51

I've got an idea, Home Secretary: let's give them safe and legal routes.
On second thoughts nah...that's more than your dog-whistled votes are worth!

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John Coopey

Mon 8th Jan 2024 10:09

Surprisingly he was called Alan. We should remember his name. There is not much else left of him. I wrote one called “Alan on the Morrow” about him some little while ago.

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Stephen Gospage

Mon 8th Jan 2024 08:29

A statistic becomes a person and a life. Well done, John, an important poem which should shame many people who only see numbers and problems.

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Steve White

Mon 8th Jan 2024 07:38

That's an excellent poem and an important thing to say. Thank you.

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Tim Higbee

Mon 8th Jan 2024 01:55

John your poem is elegantly written with the dark ink of tragedy.
A lost and tormented soul provided with dignity of respectful words to be remembered.
Nicely done. Tim

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keith jeffries

Sun 7th Jan 2024 22:40

John,
This poem probes deep into our humanity. The illustration at the top of the page, if I recall rightly, is that of a little boy whose family attempted to leave Syria for Greece but did not make it. Your poem encapsulates so many aspects of our humanity all embodied in a body on the beach, life's journey ,its difficulties and ambitions all brought to nought. A poem drenched in melancholy but one which reminds us of what is taking place everyday as people seek a better life and love on another shore.
Thank you for this,
Keith

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