Ode to Ocean

You're blue

from the curved horizon to here where I stand on the shoal,

strong and vast you swallow crumbs from white walls

and your red and your dead and your barrier reef,

but no matter the fathoms of your sole

or the undulating tide tugging at your chest

or the tears and cold breath and mighty squalls -

you keep the waste that ebbs and flows from foaming teeth

that curl as they bite after the ship that dares to crest

and swallows the ship that fails and falls -

and though you may never ever settle the score

you still permit sailing, and trading, and living at the shore

and we praise your beauty and for the privilege we toil,

and then we still scar your face with floating rot

we kill too much though you bade us not

and we advance despite your face soaked in oil.

I know you're forever blue, you have reason for it too:

Forgive us not, for we all should know better than what we do

- MM