Walking on Water

Walking on Water

Like a somnambulist, my feet strike for shore,

Having walked many miles heedlessly over water.

Did I tell them where to step next? Shafts of light

Show them a path to follow, far from sleep,

Where no dream or imagining can trick these eyes;

These eyes that are drinking in a watery grave.

...

Do not fear, I tell myself, do not be grave.

My thoughts are in turmoil, casting for some hope to shore

Up a confidence that I do not have. Only strong eyes

Can see past despair and tell me to walk on water.

So onwards I must go, beyond rest, beyond sleep,

Until this darkness can be turned to light.

...

I remember the stories of Tunnels to the Light,

Though surely I am not dead or one foot in the grave –

Not I. Nor am I a weary traveller, much in need of sleep –

Pacing from day to day and shore to shore,

In search of shelter, food and water.

My feet might pain me but not my sharp eyes –

...

For they are my tireless navigator. Cats’ eyes

That see in the dark and know where the light

Might be found – even fathoms deep under water.

Did I mention that I work beyond the grave,

And receive a handsome sum to transport to distant shore

Many mortal souls in search of immortal sleep?

...

Ferryman, they called me, once upon a sleep,

When I was young to my trade, having fresh eyes

That loved with a passion the journey to an unknown shore.

Yet times changed me, transforming my light

Over aeons, into this creature of grave

Visage, whose thoughts cloud and darken this water –

...

Which is my domain. You ask why I walk the water

When surely I can ferry thousands in their sleep.

But know I carry death on my back – from cradle to grave

Is the task of another; another pair of eyes

Must make that spirit journey, walking the planes of light,

Carrying life in broad strong hands to a far-off shore.

...

Mechanically now, these feet forge a water way to a secret shore –

A mystical destination that memory calls to these eyes, grave

Etched with sorrow, promising a sleep bathed eternally in light.

1) It must be 39 lines long.

2) Only six end-words are used and they must be used in a particular order.

3) The poem is laid out in 6 (six-line stanzas) followed by a three-line stanza.

4) The three-line stanza (known as a tercet) must contain all six end-words.

You need a theme to provide continuity throughout the poem and a good choice of end-words that allow for different meanings and contexts; for example, the word ‘shore’ at the end of line 1 is used as a noun but at the end of line 8 it does duty as a verb, whilst the word ‘grave’ at the end of line 6 is used as a noun but at the end of line 29 it is used as an adjective.

The advice given for writing a sestina is to focus on the content and not be confined by the strictness of the form; therefore, there is a lot of variation in the word-play. Enjambment (the running on of lines and also the running on of stanzas) is used to strengthen the poem’s continuity, as in ‘Only strong eyes / Can see past despair’. Furthermore, there is no standard line-length and no rhyme scheme in use, as that would inhibit the poem’s fluidity.

Analogies are used to bring energy to the writing, to make the poem visual and have the reader pause to consider what is being spoken about; as, for example, with ‘thoughts cloud and darken this water’ and ‘I carry death on my back’. There are also contrasts that highlight the journey from joy to despair ('having fresh eyes / That loved with a passion', 'into this creature of grave / Visage').

A variety of word combinations are used to mask or draw attention from the end-words, as in ‘heedlessly over water’, ‘ food and water’, and ‘walk the water’. Furthermore, attention is drawn to the questions that are being asked (e.g. ‘Did I mention … immortal sleep?’): the reader is being drawn into the narrative and subtly asked to engage with the narrator. A story is being told and the identity of the narrator is gradually being revealed, therefore there is a resolution going on. That is the beauty of this sestina – it is a revelation, confined to using certain key-words that underpin the message of the poem. And here there is a clear spiritual overtone.

The sestina is a hidden puzzle. Can you see how the order of the six end-words changes throughout the poem, and that they are all used in the last stanza?

My reflections on the poem

The inspiration for this (and two other poems) came whilst walking along a beach in Spain in March 2017. Naturally, my thoughts were influenced by water. This poem formed part of an assignment for my BA degree in English Language & Literature.

The form of the poem, for me, assists a stream of consciousness to develop. There is a melancholy air exemplified by the choice of language – ‘despair’, ‘grave’, ‘death’, ‘sorrow’ – and you are made to feel that this is the domain of the narrator.

At the beginning of the sestina, you are trying to find clues about the meaning of the poem and the identity of the narrator. The title ‘Walking on Water’ is mysterious and intriguing. Immediately, you feel that the narrator is talking to you – asking questions, disclosing confidences (‘My thoughts are in turmoil’) and using personal identifiers (‘my feet’). The gender of the narrator is unknown, for the use of ‘ferryman’ is ambiguous. But could this be a reference to Charon from Greek mythology, who ferried the newly-dead souls across the fabled River Styx?

You sense something of the tiredness and finality of a journey that has been undertaken through endless years, and the unimagined distress that has been endured (‘ I must go, beyond rest, beyond sleep’, ‘times changed me, transforming my light’, ‘ these eyes, grave / Etched with sorrow’). Perhaps, you can empathise with these feelings expressed through special chosen words and hope, too, that ‘this darkness can be turned to light’ when the mysterious and mystical destination is finally reached.

(The poem was written on a line-by-line basis. When the word ‘ferryman’ was written then the narrator became more accessible to me and I believe that I consciously sought for an uplifting ending.)