by The Cowl Editor on November 30, 2017
Poetry
by Marelle Hipolito ’21
pebbles:
are in the ocean.
they stay in the background.
give all their life to
the surrounding ocean, and there is
nothing;
nothing left for them to uphold.
everything to love about them: gone.
Unless, of course, they are for the ocean.
They are beautiful when wet, with the ocean salt
They are loved when skipped, in the ocean
Only remembered and found, in the ocean.
moving with the flow, they agree to choices,
choices that they do not make for themselves.
These are choices that benefit the tide of the ocean
The wave of the ocean
Everything for the ocean
sacrificing their existence for the other.
colored gray, weathered by rough environment
harshness on their surfaces:
it makes them weak—dependent.
You made me YOUR PEBBLE.
Your life, YOU were the great wondrous ocean, and I, I!
I was merely a crumb under your fingernails but when you. needed. me—NO!
I, then, was so much MORE IMPORTANT.
you would not be ANYWHERE without me, the small, gray pebble that you molded into your slave
I used to be my own rock, confident and proud, but you seduced me into your waves
into the shriveled up person that I am now
I gave you EVERYTHING
this is how you REPAY ME?
you weakened and minimized me into this small
shy pebble that needed your approval for everything
YOUR MAJESTY—what should I do for you next?
Where do you want me to sit, where do you want me to stand?
what kind of tide should I flow with now?
What kind of wave should I bear with now?
High, low, it’s up to you! I am for you, only you, there is nowhere else to go to
whatever will appease you, great ocean king of my life
you put me down so you could step up on my shoulders so you can be at the great height you are at now
I used to be vibrant, full of life and joy and excitement then you pulled me with your crystal clear ocean waves and it was only then, when I became your pebble that I saw myself
STUCK in the swampy muddy waters of yours polluted with your deepest darkest secrets that I kept. for. YOU!
I HOPE YOU DROWN in your own ocean,
and become your own pebble
that will stay in the background.