Library sea – a tableau

by reaching sea-wards
horizon-wide he’s
the last ship to leave
brine-washed and alone
open book unread

every line’s a wave
from syllables blown
course laid plotted for
faraway lighthouse
to harbours unknown

library-ocean
mostly uncharted
he is explorer
with compass in hand
to lead us to shore

Lighthouse at dusk
Alfred Stevens

Today Lilian hosts at dVerse with a prompt to write poems about the sea. Since I missunderstood the tableau prompt last week I decided to write one on a sea theme letting the sea be a metaphor for the library.

September 10, 2024

29 responses to “Library sea – a tableau

  1. Love this metaphorical use of the ocean here! I suspect the Ancient Librarian might have a bit of brine in his whiskers some day 🙂 I can see him reading the Ancient Mariner! 🙂

  2. This is absolutely gorgeous, Bjorn! 💙 Wow! I especially admire this part;

    “every line’s a wave
    from syllables blown
    course laid plotted for
    faraway lighthouse
    to harbours unknown.”

  3. I love your library sea tableau, Björn! The whole poem is stunning, but these lines hooked me:

    ‘every line’s a wave
    from syllables blown
    course laid plotted for
    faraway lighthouse
    to harbours unknown’.

  4. Pingback: Lighthouse – Kitty's Verses·

  5. Such a wonderful metaphor…every line’s a wave from syllables blown…love it! I started to write a Tableau but missed the deadline but I do like the form and you did so well with this one!

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