The Sleeping Giant

/ rothpoetry

A Sleeping Giant

Lies breathing between continents

In and out its chest rises and falls

A Shrek of a guy most of the time

Children and adults float

Bouncing on his crest

Squealing with delight

On bubbles of air

But beware

Of the Ides of October

When tossing and turning

Nightmares return

Thrashing coughing

Scaring all who once played on his chest

Fear and trepidation

Waters rise

Winds howl

Floods come up

Big Blow AKA Delta

Brings Halloween early

All Tricks

No Treats

Wide awake

Nightmare passes

Giant sleeps once more

Fans have nowhere to lay their heads

*****

Photos Dwight L. Roth

39 thoughts on “The Sleeping Giant”

  1. Very ingenious extended metaphor in this well-composed poem, Dwight. ❤ It ends on a sobering note. We should never take the possible devastation of hurricanes lightly, and we should be prepared to support victims in the aftermath.

    The ocean provides recreation, transportation of people and goods, seafood, and beautiful views. We should be thankful for those things. 🙂

    All the best! Cheryl

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  5. One of my earliest recollections of childhood travel were to a very lovely holiday by the Bay of Bengal, with soft lonely beaches by the azure blue sea (lonely beaches are a rarity in India), mesmerizing sunrises, scurrying red crabs, colourful shells and everything good. We stayed bang on the beach, and I noticed the big change that came about at night. The darkness hid the sea but the screaming winds and the loud crashing of waves very close made the ocean sound like a giant that had woken up indeed. Then many years later we had the terrible Tsunami on Bay of Bengal that caused terrible loss and destruction to many. Your lively poem brought back vivid flashes, good and terrifying both Dwight.
    I understand hurricanes are one of the biggest furies of nature in USA, esp the West coast. Is October the hurricane season, usually?

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    • Hurricane season her runs from the end of June to the end of October. They had two back to back in the Gulf of Mexico that hit the state of Louisiana this fall. I enjoyed your story of going to the beach. Tsunami’s and very destructive indeed. Thanks for sharing!

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  10. Brilliant metaphor, Dwight!
    Nature is always trying to communicate with us Human-beans…but we don’t always listen…so sometimes nature has to get loud! 😉
    (((HUGS))) and hope you had a great weekend!
    PS…I did a post recently comparing Human-beans and trees. 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

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