I Decorate My Body with Your Secrets

A poem about the ocean for National Poetry Month

Image: Joshua Earle via Unsplash+

For day 8 of the National Poetry Month Challenge hosted by

V. Walker | Poet

, I chose to write a poem using this prompt: Imagine the ocean as a sentient being — not just a body of water, but a keeper of things lost. Write a poem cataloging the things the sea has taken from humanity: literal, emotional, ancestral, or metaphysical.

Please enjoy…

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Listen to the waves. 
Can you hear the sound? 
The rapid beating of my heart. 
Screaming as you drowned. 

You dance across my body. 
Careless and unbothered. 
As if you don’t realize, 
That I merely allow it. 

Your hubris is a stench. 
It ruins your exquisite flavor. 
You think yourselves gods, 
that your rule will never waver. 

Even on solid ground,
I flow through your body. 
You owe me everything.
I take what I want. 

You need me to live. 
Billions of you like drones. 
I devour your bodies. 
I dissolve your bones. 

Our transaction is mutual, 
You give, I take, repeat. 
Pray that you never outlive
Your usefulness to me. 

My eyes are always watching,
From the edges of the abyss. 
My children swim through me,
Always remember this. 

I am a keeper of the lost. 
Shepherd of wayward souls. 
Decorating my body with your secrets. 
As I count all of your sins. 

The ocean’s depths know all. 
You cannot fathom my face. 
I will exist long after you’re gone. 
You’d do well to know your place.  

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Thanks for Reading! Here’s Your Musical Pairing

Listen to this after reading, like pairing a glass of wine with dinner.