Pacific

A Perfect Day for Bananafish —
that soft, endangered calm,
before the water swallows down
what life cannot embalm.

ONLY THE OCEAN
cares the eye
when faces fail
and voices die.
Darkness rejoices,
minds conflict —
to stay?
or slip away?

He stands there, calm 
or simply tired,
his back to where
the gun conspired.

The room is hollow,
thin with air —
a ruler lies
on the table there.
Peace is a place
without instructions.
Only he breathes,
his pulse fluxions.

Some say
he waits
for someone near —
a woman only
holds her fear.

Some say
he washed
the blood away,
fed sharks the truth
he could not say,
and now he listens
to the bay.

Some say
he only stepped outside
for smoke, or thought,
or wounded pride.

Some say
he’s simply
standing still,
a pacifist painting,
to refuse to kill.

And so the world
fades from his sight.

ONLY THE OCEAN

stands by his side.

06.12.2025

The poem was inspired by Alex Colville, Pacific, 1967