| I. Conflict | |
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| Whipped by wicked winter wind that's driven to a frenzied height, | |
| walls of water raise their massive forces from the seething main, | |
| crash on cliffs of adamantite, striving to destroy the stone: | |
| smash the surface till it splinters, lash it with the roiling sea. | |
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| Ripping with its jagged jaws the craggy rock endures the pain, | 5 |
| streaming from the gaping holes where teeth once stood, it sneers in spite, | |
| disembowling each descending juggernaut relentlessly, | |
| spitting back its broken fragments, fighting off the storm alone. | |
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| Talons poised and bared its fangs, the blasted cliff awaits attack; | |
| surging swells the sea throws up from water beaten blue and black. | 10 |
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| II. Commerce | |
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| The gently rounded swells that rise from hidden sources of the deep | |
| rush out to meet the ever-waiting land; majestic figures stand, | |
| then leaning in toward the shore, they peak, tips crowned with white: | |
| they shed their forms to burst against unyielding pinnacles of stone. | |
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| Stale catacombs within the rocky surface flood with wetness, cool | 15 |
| and salt, the ocean's liquid essence offered up as currency; | |
| the craggy cliffs give up their substance in exchange, as ebbing waves | |
| recede in flowing rivulets, each bearing grains of treasure safe | |
| within its bosom, slipping back among the surf to lose itself | |
| in nature's ceaseless rhythm. | 20 |
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| III. Communion | |
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| The sea that never rests reclines and basks on calid sand, | |
| embracing and surrounded by the never-changing land; | |
| adorned with gilded waves, their crests aglow with golden fire, | |
| supported by the mighty arms whose sinews never tire, | |
| it splashes self-contentedly, and with its gaze held high, | 25 |
| it reaches out to touch the vibrant garden of the sky. | |
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| Established in their permanence the mighty cliffs abide: | |
| the rock whose living roots run deep beneath the rising tide | |
| drinks long from summer's warmth, to store within its massive frame | |
| till daylight's glowing rays have passed to moonlight's silver flame; | 30 |
| the stone returns its borrowed heat to warm the ocean's main, | |
| to stand in place of midnight's sun till morning shines again. | |
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