Seppuku* Poem by John E Marks

A holy river runs through us -

the river of life -

With its twists and its turns,

and its banks out of sight.

(early morning misty light

scatter these dregs of the night -

O! the unbidden tears!)

Flotsam and jetsam

of years pass meby

Swirl in a whirlpool

Float in the sky.

(the azure blue heat-haze sky

ofchildhoods all gone by)

Down in the depths,

murky and drear,

Listen to the heartbeats

taste the iron fear....

Swim against the current -

in a tangle of weed -

stop in a hurry -

Is that all that we'll need?

floating along at our bull-rush ease

we stare quietly at the sun,

as we begin slowly to bleed.

It cannot be undone.

* Seppuku (Japanese: 切腹, "cutting [the] belly") , sometimes referred to as harakiri (腹切り, "abdomen/belly cutting", a native Japanese kun reading) , is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment.