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Tuesday, April 9, 2024

Seeing Double

 


Kwiisahi?is
Brave Little Hunter
Photo by Zeballos Inn

How to hold this April morning,
on the West Coast of Canada
in my one human
overloaded brain?

The cherry trees in bloom,
rhododendrons opening their pink buds,
blue sky, the eternal waves,
beauty as far as I can see

while, elsewhere on the planet,
bombs fall, children hide among
the rubble. I fill my porridge bowl
while innocents starve

and the disconnect,
among those who govern
with power instead of humanity,
between their agendas and
the horrors of reality,

creates a two-level existence:
the one I am living
and the one I am all too aware of
across the globe.

Meanwhile,
one small orphaned whale
circles the lagoon in which
she is trapped
while humans take too long
to set her free.

Everywhere, the innocent are suffering,
our hearts too full of grief
to bear the pain.


for Sumana's prompt: April. 

It is a schizophrenic existence these days. April out my window is beautiful and blooming. On this side of the window is the daily news, horror upon horror, no enlightenment, no relief anywhere. And the small whale is still alive, but tenuously so, while rescuers contemplate their response. They are doing their best, but time is of the essence, as they know. The most hopeful plan is helicoptering her out into open ocean, and containing her in a net until her pod - hopefully - swims by, then releasing her. I would prefer them lifting her close by her pod and releasing her, but this has been ruled out. It will be traumatic for her, there is little doubt.

It has now been seventeen days since her mother died. She is diving for longer periods and still calls for her mother every fifteen minutes. We don't know if she is eating.

I am trying, with my entire will, to keep her alive until  rescuers can get her out of the lagoon and set her free. Surely we can get ONE thing right in a world that has apparently lost its collective mind. One small whale, alive, is not too much to ask.


17 comments:

  1. Poor little whale, Sherry. I know how much you care what happens. This has been going on so long now. May she be rescued soon.

    " Everywhere, the innocent are suffering,
    our hearts too full of grief
    to bear the pain. " This says it all!

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  2. "a two-level existence:
    the one I am living
    and the one I am all too aware of
    across the globe." And add the baby whale and I am reminded of the one human standing in front of a tank at Tiananmen Square. It is too much. The whale is the straw to break an onlooker's back. I love this poem.

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  3. Exactly, Susan. It is too much and I do feel like one human against the tanks - so hopeless and yet I cant give up on the whale, or Mother Earth, or the suffering of so many species, including humans. Sort of screwed.

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  4. Really well put! Makes me want to have a media blackout for a few days and just focus on the beauty.

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  5. I wonder if it's too difficult to rescue the poor baby. This season of rejuvenation with all its beauty hides its face in shame. Sigh.

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  6. It is indeed a paradox, Sherry, to see the beauty of April outside your window and the news on the television shows such terrible scenes of destruction and cruelty. I hope the humans set that little orphaned whale free very soon.

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  7. Yes life is full of ecstasy and pain and your poem captures this paradox. Not sure we can ever make sense of this. Freedom is everything !

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  8. I'm with you on the whale! Open oceans soon!

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  9. It’s hard to fully comprehend what is going on in the world. Or maybe, we do comprehend and that is what breaks one heart.

    I agree they are taking too long with the rescue. Prolonging the decision is causing more stress on the brave little hunter. Sigh

    Truedessa

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  10. I am sorry to hear that the orca is trapped. How very, very sad. Your poem captures the weird sense of unreality and injustice that permeates our world at present. Suzane _ Wayfaring blog - Wordpress.

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  11. he one I am living
    and the one I am all too aware of
    across the globe.- I feel this and I wish like you, we can do one thing right at least- with the baby whale.

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  12. I know it sounds glib but suffering is all part of life You can only do your best to change things....as long as you do something is what counts...Just plod on like Sisyphus pushing the boulder up the hill....Rall

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  13. "a two-level existence" --- our hearts attuned to the innocent suffering in the world while our own little corner of it seems free of it -- the poem breaks my heart, Sherry, Hoping against hope that Brave Little Hunter will be saved. Thanks for keeping us posted. Through you, I feel connected to this fierce little grieving whale. 💔

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  14. The image of humans trying to hold a whale is poignant. I'm sure that at some level she feels the love we send her, though...she has lived a long time for a nursling without a mother. May she find an adoptive family and live long and prosper!

    PK

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  15. A very moving and well-put poem, Sherry. We do live in such dichotomy--between life and death, between the beautiful and the horrific. I hope the whale will be able to return to her pod. Poor little one.

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  16. Our current world is one of life and death. The young whale speaks to me of trying to find home, mother, peace, and does circles in the water because it can't find a path to even one of them. This poem goes straight to my heart.

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