A Drop Of Sacrifice

For a long time, the northern sea had remained turbulent with whirlpools of fear unleashed in the hearts of the residents living close to the coastline. The hazardous hurricanes of war riding the chariot of freezing waves swooshed everything in their vicinity to the depths of slimy water.

mighty Poseidon

twirling whips of ocean waves

in piercing war zone

With the onset of serene Spring winds, the war between rival countries also subdued. Expectant families awaited their loved ones sent for raging battles. A few arrived safely, others wounded, still many dead, yet others never did. Only their belongings in wreckage of storms and war washed up to the shores.

stoned eyes gaze afar

pour agony in darkness

awaiting a dawn

Her moist eyes gleamed with hope till sundown everyday and her shivering feet traced the footprints of strangers to find her beloved husband among the survivors of war. With each passing day, her hopes trembled in fear. She wondered if her husband would be lost forever like her child as the last ships reached the shore without any news of him.

hopes turn into fears

trace footprints of time on sand ~

survivors of war

One gloomy morning her hopes soared with tides again as a group of fishermen claimed they'd found a warrior. Her eyes welled up with the rushing joy of finding the reason to be happy again. As she saw him, a wave of surprise and sadness flowed through her veins. His amputated right leg now left a spot on sand instead of his footprint.

tides of joyous sun

flickered in anxious gallops ~

alive yet damaged

Her transient shock drowned in immense happiness as she embraced him. It felt safe to be in his arms like a pearl would sleep in peace inside the seashell. He seemed ecstatic too and showed her the gift he had brought for her. It was a child! An infant looked at her with curious blue eyes to melt her heart.

abode of warm life

melting seashells to spill pearls ~

blue eyes of infant

With joy dripping through the crevices of her existence, she welcomed them and inquired how it had happened. He narrated how they had survived on the enemy's land after a sudden attack. They fought valiantly before he got separated from his company. His wounds were healed by a kind woman from the enemy clan who lived with her baby.

on red battlefield 

courage and kindness survive ~

elixir for wounds

Destiny turned upside down when they were attacked by an enemy soldier for safekeeping him. He tried to save the woman but she breathed her last with a sword pierced through her heart. He lost his leg before he could kill the monstrous man and save her child. 

twisted doors of fate

unleash mayhem on goodwill ~

tossing death to life

She'd taught him that humanity supersedes hatred and wars cease once living warriors turn into frozen corpses. The child was a reminder of the woman's sacrifice and a ray of hope in their lives. His wife had never felt so proud of her husband. She caressed tiny fingers which clasped hers and a drop of joy melting her agony, a drop of sacrifice from her eyes watered the barren garden of her life in carousels of love on sand.

black wars of hatred

melt in drops of sacrifice ~

clasping nascent love

*This poem has been written using the Japanese Haibun form(invented by Japanese poet Matsuo Basho) which is a prosimetric literary form that he used to combine elements of Chinese prose genres with Japanese haiku themes. The range of haibun is broad and frequently includes autobiography, diary, essay, prose poem,short story and travel journal. Each haibun must have a title, followed by a short prose-like paragraph. Afterward, a simple poetic haiku (three lines of 5,7,5 syllables respectively). A haibun may record a scene, or a special moment, in a highly descriptive and objective manner or may occupy a wholly fictional or dream-like space.The accompanying haiku may have a direct or subtle relationship with the prose and encompass or hint at the gist of what is recorded in the prose sections.*