in the distance,
a blood-red bloom
stains the gently heaving sea....
dark red,
like veinous blood --
yet this mass consumes,
like the consumers
whose effluvia feed it....
in so many ways
a toxic float --
forbidding, in its darkness,
foreboding, as it looms....
killing abalone and
sickening humans
who eat from its murk....
•
under clouded skies,
gazing,
in a
mood --
spirits can sink
into this blot,
this periodic blight....
and in the darkness
far beneath the vibrant world,
epic battles seethe --
the likes of which poets write
and bards sing....
whirlpools catch
weakened minds
in spirals of worry
regret
despair....
when the red tide comes,
no life vests can be found....
no dinghy waits topside,
no searchers line the shore....
deep
in the inky blackness --
a ballet of struggle....
•
yet a sea-magic gift awaits....
ah, just at twilight --
a strange iridescence
a phosphorescence?
a bioluminescence --
a trick of your eye, you think,
a wishing for light --
but ah, the rolling algae,
responding to friction
shout a spark as the crest
of a wave slaps down....
and within its roll, gathers a
blue-white glow....
how perfectly the universe has timed
the visitation of these crazy phytoplankton
to light up
the dark night
of your soul....
and if you can take a boat
father out to sea,
and dip in your hand --
you can trail stars from your fingertips....
oh
there is so much more than death
in darkness....
____________
©2011
Beth Anne Boardman
photo ©2008
thomas lozinski
http://www.flickr.com/photos/manasquantom/3296435532/
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