Welcome back to the Poetry Break and the poem epic that I fell way behind on posting! I do apologize to those of you who were waiting for the next segment. I kept getting distracted with new finds and historical places that I was excited to write about, which I suppose is a good thing. To those of you just tuning in, this is the latest segment of a 21 part poem epic that I wrote a few months back (you may find links to an intro for the series and the previous segments below). I hope you enjoy this segment about the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
LET ME TELL YOU HOW I DIED
PART I – SEGMENT 3
Pearl Harbor
Here in Hawaii, it’s a beautiful day
The sky is blue, the palm trees sway
The air is warm, green covers the land
Boys find their posts, and strike up the band
In comes the first wave, out of the blue
Zeros! We’re stunned! What do we do?
The roar is deafening as the planes speed past
They fill up the sky and come hard and fast
The alarm sounds loud on the grand ship’s deck
We man our guns, but it’s already a wreck
A bomb drops, direct hit! I’m hurled to the sea
There’s red in the water floating all around me
The thick oil turns the blue ocean black
Fire burns the palm trees, roughs up the tarmac
Planes bombed to pieces, hangers burst apart
Ships tipping over, split right at their heart
Men sink down to a watery grave
Oh so young, yet our lives we gave
I’m pulled to the dregs, I’m swallowed away
On a Hawaiian December, my very last day
To Be Continued…
To read an intro to this series, and Part I – Segment 1 “The Blitz,” click here
To read Part I – Segment 2 “Stalingrad,” click here