Hokusai captures the moment
Imprisoned in an instant trapped in time
unbeating hearts lie in a rigid cage
impaled by sickle spikes of death-cold rime.
Unspoken cries to gods cannot assuage
the wrath transfixed forever overhead
within the mighty Kanagawa wave
while insubstantial faith dissolves in dread
to depths beyond the elemental grave.
Beneath the sweep of ink-blue monochrome
the kindred figures huddle overawed
all petrified by gawking claws of foam
they wait now to be washed right overboard.
But that’s what happens when you try to float
a two-dimensional water colour boat.
Hokusai: Great Wave off Kanagawa
