I can hear the pounding of the dead drummers beat
Telling me the secrets that only they can keep
From within their never-ending, dark, dreamless sleep
Lost forever in the waters, so vast and deep.

They tell me of the days when the earth was still young
They teach me the lyrics of songs that they once sung
They tell me tales of bloody battles that they fought
And about all of the lessons which they were taught.

They describe exotic goods from old market stalls
And the ruined insides of their once splendid halls
They tell me of walls made from the strongest of stones
But they were no match for the ocean’s deadly groans.

So now they lay in the waters, so vast and deep
Trapped for eternity in death’s dark, dreamless sleep
Whispering the secrets that only they can keep
Can you hear the pounding of the dead drummers beat?

J.A McManus

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/dead-drummers-beat/