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Poem – OF BIBLICAL PROPORTIONS (By Ray Gallucci)

 

OF BIBLICAL PROPORTIONS

 

Although there was no Noah

Or Gilgamesh around,

No blast like Krakatoa

To deafen with its sound,

The Ocean of the Indies

Awakened from its sleep

When scarp off Indonesia

Collapsed in Sunda Deep.

 

The nine-o quake by Richter

With cataclysmic force

Unleashed a silent killer

Unnoticed at its source.

A bump upon the surface,

A mighty pulse beneath,

Propelled with fateful purpose

To shores within its reach.

 

Vast energy untotaled

It sought to dissipate

With wave whose scale was global

That sped near sonic rate.

The nearest coasts were leveled

Like castles made of sand.

Entire towns disheveled,

Lagoons replacing land.

 

Came early Sunday morning

With few around to greet

The ocean’s only warning —

A vanishing retreat.

Who understood the meaning

Immediately ran,

For knew would come careening

Resurgent waves again.

 

Remainder stared in wonder

At last they’d ever eye —

The roaring waves that thundered

Some dozen meters high.

Whoever slept in quiet,

Unknowing in their rooms,

Awoke to nightmare riot

From ocean’s sudden doom.

 

Those who escaped from drowning

Were crushed by the debris

Churned by the ocean pounding

Each building, car and tree.

A few survived by clinging

To anything they could,

Some respite sea was bringing

Nearby, like piece of wood.

 

But those who were unconscious

Or not within the grasp

Of some life-saving flotsam

Were dragged by sea’s collapse.

The surge and drain repeated

Till energy was spent

And waves at last receded

With oscillations’ end.

 

But former land had vanished

And surf massaged new shores.

The works of man were vanquished —

Communities no more.

Earth’s population dwindled

Where Neptune’s hand had touched.

For Fates had quickly spindled

One hundred thousand plus.

 

Though nothing more than physics —

Drop pebble in a pail.

But ripples turn tsunamic

On planetary scale.

Earth spins minutely faster —

Ten-thousandth second less —

Because of this disaster

Where surface was compressed.

 

Still doubt we Velikovsky’s

Belief that cosmic blasts

Explain the Bible stories

Of earth’s convulsive past.

If wreaks this much destruction

One mere abyssal plunge,

A meteor imagine

Could everything expunge?

 

(Published On-Line at GOD AND THE SHELTERED POET, by Melanie M. Eyth,
January 7, 2009 [http://godandtheshelteredpoet.blogspot.com])

 


Author Bio:



I am a Professional Engineer who has been writing poetry since 1990. I am an incorrigible rhymer, tending toward the skeptical/cynical regarding daily life. I have been fortunate to have been published in poetry magazines and on-line journals such as NUTHOUSE, MOTHER EARTH INTERNATIONAL, FEELINGS/POETS’ PAPER, MÖBIUS (when Jean Hull Herman published), PABLO LENNIS, MUSE OF FIRE, SO YOUNG!, THE AARDVARK ADVENTURER, POETIC LICENSE, THUMBPRINTS, UNLIKELY STORIES, BIBLIOPHILOS, FULLOSIA PRESS, NOMAD’S CHOIR, HIDDEN OAK, PABLO LENNIS, POETSESPRESSO, SOUL FOUNTAIN, WRITER’S JOURNAL, ATLANTIC PACIFIC PRESS, DERONDA REVIEW, LYRIC, THE STORYTELLER, WRITE ON! and DANA LITERARY SOCIETY.