Echo's Gone
by Odin Roark


Sometimes
giving it your best shot
proves not enough

My speed wasn't there
oh I knew how to dodge
but today
being winded
rendered me vulnerable

It was sudden
this tethered impact
didn't think it would hurt
so much

But

Their way
the long way
hurt it did

I knew what was coming
the final shot
the storm cloud across the sun
Time was going to stop
no amount of age
wisdom
history
could stop it

It's warm now
even with the surrounding cold
freezing cold

Warmer still

Blood is everywhere
one last lunge skyward
got to breathe
my last gasp

Quiet now

That bullet did it
can hear my buddies
their agony of loss
like metal on metal
no more voices serene
harmony drifts
as cries of family fade

These last moments strange
harnessed tight
being pulled alongside my captor's hull

Warmth
Vanishing


Cold
Returning


Light
Fading

Behind me
blurred vision reveals
the futile tears of Sea Shepherd

Above me
the anguished fluttering of guardian chopper blades

Ahead of me...

If only...


Dignity ignored
passion of life forgotten
...Not the way to go


My enemies call it
the battle zone

For me
my family
my buddies
it's the feeding zone

Impact came
Violence exploded

Now

Sense of contact ebbing
pain dwindling
the upward drag
the final moments

Tonnage now rising
floating into the ether
from where I came

"Whale Wars"
broadcast continues
consciousness spreading
outrage continues its scream

But

Another echo's gone