Poetry: Imani
A poem for my creative writing class in terza rima style. Because my class is done in workshop format and the first thing I'll have to do is present it to my class with no opportunity to speak my own thoughts on it and just hear theirs, I've opted not to explain anything about it here. Just tell me what you think, and what meaning you derive.
"Imani"
Imani set sail on a churning sea
weaving her way through buffed boulders
and to the Universe raised her plea,
"Within my life a question smolders,
so in this wide, wide world I seek the truth
that wonder lift from my weary shoulders
and see me through the blindness of youth
and I beg do make me into more
than this being lacking amity and ruth."
And thus touched she on the first shore
which in distant eyes illumined gold,
'til blood seeped in the slippers Imani wore
and the true carnage she could behold.
"Where did all the love go?" she wept
before the disenchanted native fold.
But the dumb silence they instead kept
as each brother slew his own brother
while fathers and sisters in apathy slept,
and Imani left this shore for another.
Afar, she could tell this one from the last
for children knelt at the feet of the mother,
father adoring each as he breezed past.
But too steeped were they in action
with empty hearts encased in glass.
Imani a mere distraction,
she solemnly sailed away,
hoping to find a new reaction
on whatever shore she reached that day.
And she did find it by cruelty of fate,
a gleaming island city in perfect array,
libraries of words called scandal bate,
all the people bowed before knowledge
and Imani knew it was too late.
Without a glance back at this ignorant college,
Imani in growing bitterness sailed on,
hoping for something worthy to acknowledge
when she reached the wave-lapped bank yon.
Indeed the place seemed full of peace,
and Imani's cynicism vanished to none
until she asked the people of this lively lease.
"Do what is right," they told her,
"And your soul shall find release."
Dissatisfaction inside began to stir,
so she asked them, "What is right?"
"Subjective," they seemed to concur,
"for there is no black or white."
Thus Imani too left them behind
for the next island in her sight.
Surely the next would not leave her blind.
This beach held scales of simple stone,
balancing things of every kind:
day and night, befriended and alone.
Love and hate, great and small,
good to reward, bad to atone.
Imani looked out over it all,
but the thought was just too unclear,
and she would not accept its thrall,
so onward to the next rickety pier.
The folk of this island claimed Imani their own,
soft praises given without fear.
Not only to Imani was this reverence shown,
but to the rocks and rivers and trees
and things, each on an ethereal throne.
Never before had she known such lovely unities,
Thus with sadness she left this place too
to head once more for the open seas.
And it was betwixt the waves she knew
as she saw their sweeping motion,
that the space between harbored the True.
"I understand it now!" Imani cried out unto the surging ocean.
Then she drowned, for no mortal mind was made to grasp the notion.
"Imani"
Imani set sail on a churning sea
weaving her way through buffed boulders
and to the Universe raised her plea,
"Within my life a question smolders,
so in this wide, wide world I seek the truth
that wonder lift from my weary shoulders
and see me through the blindness of youth
and I beg do make me into more
than this being lacking amity and ruth."
And thus touched she on the first shore
which in distant eyes illumined gold,
'til blood seeped in the slippers Imani wore
and the true carnage she could behold.
"Where did all the love go?" she wept
before the disenchanted native fold.
But the dumb silence they instead kept
as each brother slew his own brother
while fathers and sisters in apathy slept,
and Imani left this shore for another.
Afar, she could tell this one from the last
for children knelt at the feet of the mother,
father adoring each as he breezed past.
But too steeped were they in action
with empty hearts encased in glass.
Imani a mere distraction,
she solemnly sailed away,
hoping to find a new reaction
on whatever shore she reached that day.
And she did find it by cruelty of fate,
a gleaming island city in perfect array,
libraries of words called scandal bate,
all the people bowed before knowledge
and Imani knew it was too late.
Without a glance back at this ignorant college,
Imani in growing bitterness sailed on,
hoping for something worthy to acknowledge
when she reached the wave-lapped bank yon.
Indeed the place seemed full of peace,
and Imani's cynicism vanished to none
until she asked the people of this lively lease.
"Do what is right," they told her,
"And your soul shall find release."
Dissatisfaction inside began to stir,
so she asked them, "What is right?"
"Subjective," they seemed to concur,
"for there is no black or white."
Thus Imani too left them behind
for the next island in her sight.
Surely the next would not leave her blind.
This beach held scales of simple stone,
balancing things of every kind:
day and night, befriended and alone.
Love and hate, great and small,
good to reward, bad to atone.
Imani looked out over it all,
but the thought was just too unclear,
and she would not accept its thrall,
so onward to the next rickety pier.
The folk of this island claimed Imani their own,
soft praises given without fear.
Not only to Imani was this reverence shown,
but to the rocks and rivers and trees
and things, each on an ethereal throne.
Never before had she known such lovely unities,
Thus with sadness she left this place too
to head once more for the open seas.
And it was betwixt the waves she knew
as she saw their sweeping motion,
that the space between harbored the True.
"I understand it now!" Imani cried out unto the surging ocean.
Then she drowned, for no mortal mind was made to grasp the notion.