Unvanquished.
My take on the 72th Stone Soup competition.
Hey everyone!
Today, I will be writing a poem, using the 72th Stone Soup competition topic.
This month, the topic was related to an event I personally do not really relish—Valentine’s day. We were asked to create a story, poem, artwork, or musical composition that reimagines Valentine’s Day in an unexpected way while avoiding typical Valentine’s words like love, roses, and hearts, and instead, use unconventional imagery, themes, or emotions to express connection and affection. For this poem, I decided to use this topic, since I really wanted to touch on a topic that I recently took a deeper dive into—War.
Unvanquished
(By Samuel T.K.N.)
War.
Surrendered to the powers
just shy
a few months away from
“Lovers” day.
Rejoicement,
should’ve populated us.
We’re at peace, at last.
Yet,
things were not to be.
~~~
Families torn.
War crippled.
Destroyed.
Annihilated.
It removed.
It stripped all of
what
the undeserving
and innocent
civilians had.
Friendships.
Betrayal.
Ratted out by the
closest people we knew.
Nothing seemed
like what
it should be.
~~~
Soldiers.
They were like locusts
on a field.
Invading us,
not just our homeland,
but our basic rights—
our priacy,
our everyday doings,
and alas,
our freedom.
They might’ve left,
but the dent they’ve made
will forever
be etched
in our
chests.
Fear held sway
the people I say.
Even the school
we went wasn’t safe.
Nothing was
safe.
~~~
“Safe”.
Subconsciously,
that’s all I want.
A place of refuge.
A place to stay.
A place I can confide in
someone
any day.
Love was overridden
by a powerful force
its counterpart,
its antonym, if you will,
its greatest enemy—
hate.
~~~
Hate.
Coupled with disgust.
Revolt.
Sadness?
Walking around,
14th of Feb,
a lovely Saturday,
Withering flowers are all
I see.
Sulking faces
reign the
world
I live.
Stepping foot
on ground
had a chance
a bomb was
ending your life
now.
~~~
Yet,
like a dystopian
crumble of
society,
unity reigns.
Through tough times,
civil wars,
cataclysms,
calamities,
humans have,
not once,
been
wiped off
the face of the
Earth.
Through adversaries,
families stay bonded,
new friendships,
camaraderie,
relationships
sprout.
Unforeseen,
unlikely circumstances
looked bleak.
Yet,
hope was unvanquished.
Still living
in the abyss
of people.
One day,
when things are better,
when the sufferings we endured
sooner or later
etched in the history textbooks.
Remember,
through all hardships,
through all battles,
through all conflicts the world may throw at us.
Unity will
always prevail.
And it starts with us.
Us layman.
The average Joe.
Standing up strong
in such an event
like war.
Staying connected
no matter
the cause.
Isn’t that
just “lovers”?
“Lovers” that stick together,
no matter what.
Inseparable.
Never leaving.
Never disbelieving.
Never stopping to
see a silver lining
in a stormy cloud.
I hope you have enjoyed this piece of poetry. As per usual, if you have any suggestions on how to improve the poem, to bring the poem to life, please feel free to leave it in the comments:
Also, recently, I have taken a break from Substack, as I was a bit demotivated to do it. I believe that it is great to take breaks when you are not really enjoying something you know deep down you are fond of, as you may lose interest entirely if you push yourself too hard.
I most likely will be posting more pieces of poetry, and I will fight to live another day and try to find pockets of time to write poems like this!
Ok, enough yauping.
Once again, I hope you have enjoyed this poem, and until next time, see you on “The Writing Guide”!
~Samuel =D