Crepe Myrtle Tree - By: Anuska Sarkar

A dark, wretched day, on a cliff by the sea

I sit, eyes closed, under my crepe myrtle tree

Hour after hour, I taste the gray of the sky

Screaming rapids of the ocean, dusk nigh

Whipping, booming sounds with light, flashing in my mind

With shivering heat the rain seems to be lined

Time rolls away, the sun steadily declines

As I am sitting, still sitting, under this myrtle tree of mine

Soon, I am encompassed in an unforgiving black

And the frigid lull of my gloom I do not hold back

The rain of the night dances at the speed of my tears

As I drown in a lasting deep misery of years

Sobbing in this slow silence, afar I sail away

To a pale, peach morning, on a blesséd sun-kissed day

When my heart beat to the rhythm of a joy so fine

A time I wasn’t sitting under this sweet myrtle tree of mine

I swim away into steady reveries of joy

Catching stolen smiles in the corner of my eye

Hands joined together around a heart that beat to mine

Whispered words spoken, until the fated end of time

A speck of magic in a heart lost in flat darkness

And light secrets spilt in sacred moments of stillness

Never together were we ever truly alone

And sadness was a feeling entirely unknown

Your eyes filled mine, and we were welded at the soul

As Orpheus and Eurydice near the Earth’s core

We floated to each other as bees to my rose

And sickeningly sugar coated days arose

To love or be loved was a fear rooted in my soul

As a being as cursed as mine should never be whole

Try as I might, I guarded my poisoned life, yet

I was stabbed, as I knew would be, loss was love’s knife

The angels greened at you so, that they cruelly took a piece of my whole

And flung it into the flying zephyr of the west - the heart that they stole

Who knew used hearts were made to be broken?

Who knew that pain could rise of words spoken?

Who knew that what locked you and I, could be

Snapped in half by the devils in the sky?

Who, hand-picking our hearts they did entwine

And I remain sitting, alone, under this myrtle tree of mine

In the end, the fact which remains,

Is having nothing I fear to lose shall drown me again

Take everything from this shattered shadow of mine

And leaving only my pain to reside,

Take everything so all that will be left are

Hollow, loveless bones inside

Take it, I say, this beaten, ruptured heart

This blistered soul will stay with me, till I depart

See this gash, this scar in my soul?

A body hovering at Hades’ fiery door

I have tried to erase this despotic pain

But stars in their sky write destiny to no gain

By the angels above, twisted beings they are

Time’s sadistic touch will heal my every scar

Every scar in this tear sodden body of mine

Under this beautiful, rose pink, crepe myrtle tree of thine

Shaking awake from my pensive trance, that led me into the wonderful past

I stand up, shivering on my feet, and curse this wretched land

This wretched, wretched land with the dreary looking rocks

This wretched, wretched land with the rain plunging in ice drops

This wretched, wretched land flashing lightning on my eyes

This wretched, wretched land booming thunder in cries

This wretched, wretched land with these bare, feeble trees

This wretched cold zephyr that swiped my love from me

You may think that such things mean no harm

Such as angels and zephyrs, and a bright glowing star

But the despondent truth that none can really bear

Is that gold poison looks to lovingly care

Look under the desert and wallow through sea

What dreamers do love, has taken me

A lost soul, such as I

Can only be hurt more by the light in a sky

I stand in silence as the cold wind howls

As the old, gray wolves behind me lurk and prowl

In search of new prey, whose hearts to rip apart

But I am safe, with a flimsy, broken heart

Closing out the trees’ mumbles, I softly sigh

What is a life spent with the end far from sight?

A heart I have, destined to be cracked and swollen

With the hurts angels branded on me, when you were softly stolen

My perch on the cliff, over the ocean beneath

Luring me to peace at life’s end underneath

For in death, Lucifer in the dark nethers

Will greet me at his door.

Surely when all you live for dissipates into stars

And all that’s left of your weak heart fades into dark scars

Life’s end approaches you, in a sickness till you drown

And you follow when death beckons you into his ground

Then I realize, I begin to understand

And all I hear are breaths, silencing the trees at hand

And as I leap with all my might, into the screaming dead of sea

All I can think about is love’s false heart, shattering me

Please give a detailed explanation about the meaning and main idea of this poem.

This poem is meant to be a tragic romance poem, based off of fantasy. The story revolves around a young woman who has had a difficult life, and experiences her first love and loses him. She loses all faith in her life, realizing to herself that the most tempting and seemingly harmless goods of the world are the most hurtful. This structure of this poem was actually inspired The Raven, by Edgar Allan Poe, and has many mythological references.

Please explain your writing and thought process regarding this poem.

While writing this poem, my intention was to create a fantastical piece to draw the writer out of this world, and immerse them in an emotional piece. I wanted my poem to rhyme for the most part and have a consistent number of syllables per line, and believe that this poem is best read out loud. The fun words and whimsical metaphors, coupled with the interesting and original lines really make this poem inventive.

Why did you choose to write this poem?

I chose to write this poem to give my readers a piece to immerse themselves in. I wanted readers to experience some innovative descriptions I had created, and feel a tragic fantasy. My poem aims to provide the reader with some drama and tragedy.

Do you have any tips or anything to share with the youth writers who may be reading this?

Reading is the best way to become a writer.