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Swirling around in three hundred and sixty degrees,
I am laser focused, a ray of light pinpointed on a slight slant,
I am circling, firm and steadfast, I am fast,
Warm yet hush, don’t tell as I can be deadly and they will be in danger,
I am never warm to the axis, where the revolving ball spins,
Listen in, I am the sound of prowess,
I am a prowler in broad daylight,
And by night I tango in fluorescent enchantment for it won’t be long before,
Their hidden truths will be exposed as I dawn upon them.
A ray of light cuts through, some secrets lie safe in dark trenches,
Like blinds, lines throw across the faces of a thousand Kiribati islanders,
Their people have heard me creep in on the earliest dawn for centuries,
Furthest from Greenwich, they hold the weight of the world’s darkest secrets,
They remain the protectors once tall and fair, fought generations of battles,
Their eyes now hold fort as a billowing ocean threatens their existence.
Under a coconut palm sway, a six-year-old sits in her suntanned skin,
Her bubuti lets out a long breath from her aged bowels,
Relieved she has just enough time to whisper in a decrescendo tempo,
The thousandth tale told from daylight to nightfall since the child was three,
Her voice lingers on in fading Gilbertese, fading over the horizon,
The child holds the last hope for an island,
that will soon sink below the sunlight forever more.
Ends.
Notes:
- COP28 Dubai concluded early in December 2023, and with that, climate change is a global discussion.
- Link to one of the many documentaries that gives a backstory to the Kiribati Island’s sinking: https://youtu.be/3EQLFHRHpag
“My new year wish is indeed for world peace, for without peace, we are only circling our navel focused on essentials, for life, to breathe. I wish also for peace at homes, within our families, at work and where we live, so we can eat thrive and be the best we can ever be for ourselves and for one another”.
– Jasmine H. Low
Written by Jasmine H. Low on 24 December 2023 Creative Writing Group with Sharon Bakar of Words on Fire. Prompt: “Write about the sound of a thousand secrets”. Read more of Jasmine’s unpublished creative writing works here: https://www.jasminelow.com/books.