A poet’s perspective on shipping’s ocean clean-up challenge
A poet’s perspective on what our oceans have represented throughout the ages and what challenges lie ahead
Prize-winning poetry urges the shipping industry to consider the ocean as it grapples with climate change
“I BELIEVE that poetry has the power to make people stop and think in a way that few examples of the written word can,” explains poet Salim Bhimji.
His poem ‘Dereliction: And the ocean too weeps’ offers a unique perspective on the challenges ahead for the shipping industry in 2023 as it struggles with ocean conservancy and climate change.
Mr Bhimji, who was nominated as a finalist for the prestigious Montreal International Poetry Prize this year, wanted to highlight what our oceans have represented throughout the ages, but also address the more contemporary concerns of climate change and pollution in his work.
The poem, which will be published in an anthology set to be taught as part of the English Literature curriculum at several universities across North America, is reproduced here with the permission of Mr Bhimji who wanted to offer his perspective on the ocean to the shipping industry ahead of key climate decisions to be taken in 2023.
Dereliction:
And the ocean too weeps
Through restless centuries I have powered
Heroic onslaughts by commanders
Of the great empires.
Across the ages, man has longed to unravel
The mystique that shrouds me.
The scholars of science reach
For me to uncover secrets of the past.
Pioneering men seeking out new lands
Deemed me the crowning conquest.
Mighty industries flourish because of me
And dynasties shaped, by men
Who wove their steel through me.
For entrenched within, like incipient gems,
I meld the very elements with which kingdoms
Power prosperity. Yet no man can own me.
Agile and self-replenishing
I am a mirror of the heavens,
Nestling every rhythm, in cycles rippling.
To the unwitting I am formidable.
But the same seek solace in me;
In the soft, soothing songs
That dance through my being.
I am the cradle of life for billions.
Yet, for all my elegance, I am now bereft.
Wounded. The turning tides, so harsh,
Have left me ravaged; in anguish.
How I yearn to be cherished again. Grant me the dignity
I deserve. That dignity which was once unspoken,
Then, almost broken.
To survive, I must search reach clutch
At new ways to reinvent myself.
A mere ritual since times long past.
Except these are dark days
And I face ferocious thunders ahead.
Yes, I am wrenched by the unknown.
Though known by many names, I am unique.
That I might look invincible
Is simply part of the mystique.
Beyond the drifted ocean,
A heroine’s grief; spoken.
© 2021: Salim Bhimji.
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