Submissions by Maldivian poets for our poetry segment
I'm writing to you in despair,
the misery that has overcome me, is but the transitioning of oceanic tides, with its highs and its lows, slowly chipping away at my sanity.
The shifting sands on the beach have been telling me to wait,
to wait till a swell comes.
To wait until the waves reach high like that of the pinnacle man has reached.
So that we finally have our feet where it counts,
grounded on our own graves that we've dug for development.
Kill,
Kill my roots that are embedded on our house reefs,
our hopes for the future sustainability die faster than that of a colony of corals living right under the new sewage pipe,
being exposed to the chemicals...and of our ignorance.
Drown,
Drown me in the rocks that you bury me on,
paving the way for people to colonize.
We are your bed like the bedrock we are.
Homes you destroy so foolishly,
homes of anything other than the likes of you.
As with life, comes death.
As with reefs, come reclamation.
As with mangroves, come airports.
You say we are not required for you to survive,
so you drown, so you kill, so you kiss us goodbye.
And with that comes you, the human race,
the race which destroys what sustains it,
just for the sake of development.
Just for the sake of human progress...