deepundergroundpoetry.com
Conquest
In 1519, Captain Hernán Cortés
landed in Veracruz
to begin his great conquest
that caused the fall of the Aztec empire.
Upon arriving, he gave the order
to his men to burn the ships
in a show of commitment
to his mission.
How often shipwrecked,
marooned on some
God forsaken island of despair
do we burn the boats
that brought us there?
We stare mindlessly into the flames,
our life going up in smoke,
each dream an orange spark
that wriggles and rises
before quickly going out.
Our only commitment
is to destiny.
Our mission,
to wake up each day,
to struggle with
a persistent imperfect life
in a strange land with a language
that is not our own.
From time to time we wander back
to the shore, to walk the beach,
to look at the charcoal skeletons
of the past,
to wonder what if
and why?
landed in Veracruz
to begin his great conquest
that caused the fall of the Aztec empire.
Upon arriving, he gave the order
to his men to burn the ships
in a show of commitment
to his mission.
How often shipwrecked,
marooned on some
God forsaken island of despair
do we burn the boats
that brought us there?
We stare mindlessly into the flames,
our life going up in smoke,
each dream an orange spark
that wriggles and rises
before quickly going out.
Our only commitment
is to destiny.
Our mission,
to wake up each day,
to struggle with
a persistent imperfect life
in a strange land with a language
that is not our own.
From time to time we wander back
to the shore, to walk the beach,
to look at the charcoal skeletons
of the past,
to wonder what if
and why?
Published 27th May 2019
| Edited 18th Jun 2019
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27th May 2019 1:32am
Remaniscent in ways of E. Bishop’s Caruso in England. Nice work and an engaging write.
Thank you very much. I was unfamiliar with that poem by Bishop, though now I have read it and can see the similarity. She wrote it in regard to the difficulty of being a writer/poet. I wrote my poem on a whim, because my barber has a tattoo on his forearm that says, "Burn the boats". I recently traveled to Peru where they spoke of Cortes and the fall of the Incas, the Aztec & the Mayans. I basically pulled my poem from the air, just made it up.
30th May 2019 9:36pm
31st May 2019 10:56am
Thanks! I always like reading poetry where I learn something so every once in a while I try to throw in a little history or science into my poems.
