Written piece
WHERE PEACE COMES ASHORE
Kimberly Hanley-Bello
St Kitts and Nevis
About this piece
The poem celebrates the quiet beauty of Paradise Beach in the Island of Nevis. Despite being located close to St. Thomas' Primary School and the Island Main Road, the beach offers a remarkable sense of seclusion and calm.
On Paradise Beach, the sea does not roar;
it whispers, like an old storyteller sharing secrets with the sand.
Though a school and main road sit nearby,
their sound fades the closer you get to the shoreline,
as if the island gently turns the volume down.
Hidden away from life's anxieties and rush,
the beach rests in its own quiet world,
where silence feels sacred and peace moves with the breeze.
The palms lean low, as though they too are listening,
their fronds brushing the air in slow, unhurried rhythm.
Here, time forgets its urgency.
Footprints linger just long enough to greet the tide
before the water softly takes them back.
The sunset spills across the sea like warm sugar dissolving in tea;
slow, golden, and calm.
Ferries far offshore become small moving thoughts upon the water,
sliding beneath skies of mango gold and fading pink.
Even the waves behave differently here,
not loud, not restless, but gentle and deliberate,
like breath moving in and out of sleep.
And in this quiet seclusion, far from the hurried world,
Paradise Beach feels less like a place
and more like a secret the island keeps for peace.
When night settles over the shore,
the stars gather above the water
like quiet witnesses in the dark,
watching Paradise Beach sleep.