And as the planet cooks us

Like cracked eggs on rusted iron pan

The sea will rise to reclaim the planet

Melted ice caps are just like

Rocket fuel for her

 

She will bring all of it

Waves of poison pollution

White whales of venomous plastic

Crashing down over our heads

 

The sea, she will have had enough

Holes in the ozone and 

Middle-fingers to the ecosystem

God’s flood will look like children fighting in a pool

Poseidon himself would blush

 

Higher pH levels are meaningless

When all of our cities are washed away

And those with saltwater in their veins

But not in their hearts

Float astray on the scraps of their hubris

 

I don’t speak for the planet

Nor for the sea

 

She speaks for herself

 

Vortices of aquatic strength

They spiral out of our control

Into the sky as hurricanes

And into our lungs

As we drown without knowing

 

Good luck breathing water

She whispers into the ears

Of those foolish enough to continue

Down their path of destroying

Their own Mother

 

The sea, she does not demand respect

 

She doesn’t need it

 

She only demands to be understood

That we acknowledge the infinite

Understanding that we will never

Define or

Comprehend

 

To be understood

She says

Is not to chart or to postulate

 

It is to know that she was here

Long before us

That she will be here long after

 

And while in one hand she holds the elixir of life

The other bears the Reaper’s scythe

 

So, go ahead

Be a hero

But don’t worry about saving the sea

Or even the planet

 

Worry about saving yourself.