I have seen the insidious sea
Lull the children of the shore
With the sweet aeolian lullaby
And the pretty nymphs appear
From the bottom of the ocean
To bring them into the palace
Where their father, Poseidon
Keeps the souls of the sea
As is his mighty brother Zeus
For the world above and beyond;
Woe betides those who forego
The fates of the young souls,
For their grandfather, whose eyes
See the insidious machination
Fascinate the innocent hearts
In the whirlpool of rapid waves!
The old man’s fury is greater
Than the furious god of the sea;
He dives into the angry waters,
Fighting against the god in spades
With his bare arms cutting the waves
Like swords that could kill ghosts
And wins of his two grandchildren;
From the god whose wrath sees
No end until it grows the waves
Into the myrmidons of madness
And carries the old man into the abyss.
P.S.: This poem is based on my reading of a newspaper article that a sixty-one-year-old British grandfather died while trying to save his two grandchildren, aged seven and ten, in the sea off the island of Crete, Greece. The man got into the sea, fighting with the rapid, treacherous waves like Caligula, who declared war on the sea, whipping the waves furiously to invade Britain. Finally, his grandchildren got out safely, but alas, the old man was engulfed by the wrath of furious waves and drawn to the bottom of the sea. I could not just forego my feelings upon reading the story with poetic elements that also bring me the mythological image of Laocoon, the Trojan priest punished by Poseidon who sent the great serpent engulfing him and his two young sons for his discovering the Greek ruse about the wooden Trojan horse. Hence this little poem is in memory of the brave and loving grandfather.
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