The Sea That Gives and Takes

 


Before the sun remembers how to rise,

They walk toward the breathing sea,

Nets on shoulders, prayers in their eyes,

Small boats waiting silently.  


It takes only a moment

For the sea to strike,

And only a moment

For fish to fill the net-

Life and death need little time

In the hands of water.  


Anchovy, sardine, mackerel shine,

Silver whispers in a shaking net,

Tiny lives caught in flashing lines,

A meal for today, a debt repaid.  


But farther out, the sea hardens.

There, fishing turns into war.

For tuna, shark, and swordfish,

Man casts his net like a weapon,

Muscles burning, hearts pounding,

Every pull a battle with death.  


The sea is mother, the sea is foe.

In new monsoon  months, her anger grows.

In the heart of the deep she cries aloud,

Her wail like thunder in broken clouds,

Shaking courage, tearing oars,

Laughing at the strength of men.  


A living soul leaves the shore each day,

Carrying breath into endless blue,

With fragile wood, a coiled net,

And faith stronger than fear.  


They are born of salt and wind,

Tied to legends whispered by waves,

Old tales of storms survived,

Of calm that follows rage.

Their hands remember every knot,

Every scar a story spun in the dark.  


Carrying his breath into blue depths-

The deep blue of hope and death alike,

Resting in the lap of deep blue sea.

He dives for pearls in silent depths,

To guard his lover’s hunger and honor,

To place a drop of milk

On her soft red lips,

He searches the darkness for light. 


On land, time refuses to move.

Wives, lovers, mothers, children wait,

Holding baskets and winnowing trays,

Eyes fixed where the horizon breaks.  


Every wave is counted,

Every wind is feared,

Prayers fall into salted tears

As storms draw near.  


Hope is the thread that guides them back,

A prayer woven into their nets,

A promise passed from heart to heart,

That the sea, too, bears a soul-

A gift and a curse intertwined,

A love that lives in every line.  


The sea gives food, the sea takes sons,

Yet hunger calls them back again.

Between her mercy and her rage,

Their lives are written on moving tides-

The sea they fight, the sea they fear,

The sea they love, the sea they live by.  


And when the dawn breaks clear and bright,

They return with stories in their eyes,

Of storms weathered, dreams held tight,

A dance with fate beneath vast skies.  


For in their hearts, they know-

The sea is not just water and wind-

It is life, it is loss, it is hope-

The eternal song that begins again.  

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