A Sonnet for Alan Kurdi (2018)

one day you wrote your name upon the strand
a while there was the imprint of your face
little sneakers denting the brackish sand
the sea touching your brow, a diadem of lace

the sweetest boy that ever reached the shore
so beautiful, so wonderful, so dead
you were alive, full-coloured, hours before
the wind roughly and softly made your bed

I swore, we swore, never to forget
Alan, you’ll be the difference, yes, you will
we loved so deep, the moment that we met
then we ùnmet, as you lay there, so still

and came the waves and washed you away
and came the waves and washed you away

Inspired by Edmund Spenser (~1552-1599)