Monday, 3 June 2024

Sounds and Soundscapes by Fiona Carstairs


The room is full of quiet the air so very still

When, as I awake, I hear the first sweet trill

A sound bite of the morning light

Hope! A note of things to come

As one by one other birds herald the rising sun.

 

The auditorium rustles to the moving of the throng

Who settle down to listen to the beating of the drum

The instruments of orchestra make heard the sweetest song

Of music through the air cascading to the thrum.

 

A mother in quiet repose sleeps, baby at her side

She wakes at the sounds of the little one’s request

And gently lifts her babe to her engorged breast

Smiles with pleasure at the suckling infant

And of a greedy hunger satisfied.

 

The sun kissed bather sits looking out to sea

The waves come in rolls battering the beach

With scum edged foam they hiss their quick retreat

And leave the shifting sands to sigh in misery.

 

The falling water from a great height hits its base

With savage clamour

A battering ram could never sound so fierce

As the rocks on which it falls below

Wear away little by little with each timed blow.

 

The bomber makes its bloody way to war

And drops its cargo over all

The sound is one I wish to hear no more

For it takes all our souls … that is the law.

3 comments:

Irena Szirtes said...

It was great to have you join us Fiona 😊😊 I like the way the poem begins with hope and beauty, but ends with the discomfort and horror of war, perhaps challenging the way we look at things. Something writers should do!

Ann Reader said...

Beautiful images with a very effective shock ending! I like this a lot.

Jennie said...

Beautifully composed Fiona. We have so much in the world to give us pleasure but always the horrors of the world infiltrate to give us discomfort.