Awareness pierced
As though through the slow curving sparks above,
Bright intertidal phosphor swirling round your boots,
Unmoored your poise.
Infused, you knew the elemental frame:
The fragile bond among all living things came clear.

It’s been disturbed.
You felt the equilibrium upset
Some intervention knocked the symmetry askew.
Suspicion gnawed,
The time for patient research in the field has passed.
Compelled, you shed your timidness to fight.

You’re of the sea, the source, your blood.
She nourishes, as you infuse your brood,
And when, at end, your vital fluid drains,
She will enshrine your spent remains.

So vast is she:
You held her scale as unassailable,
A self-sustaining sanctum wove from diverse life.
You must confront
Man’s influence, abuse of her munificence,
The leaching taint from unashamed greed.

Awareness grows:
The poison is detected everywhere,
From field to birds and ocean fish; the food you eat.
With wasting strength,
Defend against base personal assaults,
While toxic violence invades your breast, a two-front war.

You’re of the sea, the source, your blood.
She nourishes, as you infuse your brood,
And when, at end, your vital fluid drains,
She will enshrine your spent remains.