Sea Floor

Sea Floor

by Gideon Burton

I’ve gathered every tentacle, I’ve swept
the ocean byways clean of every shell
and licked the patient coral reef. I’ve kept
each salty grain intact and swimming well,
and now I can at last return to sleep,
though far above the circling seagulls cry.
Just listen to the bony lobsters creep
their way to darkness, cool, before they die.
We’ll walk together, if you will, along
the sediments that ease our common steps.
Ignore the coarser currents, right or wrong,

but pause to feel what plankton swarms inflect.

Domesticated, still the waters flow
more deeply than the very fishes know.

Feel free to copy, imitate, remix, or redistribute this poem as long as you give proper acknowledgment of authorship. Photo: flickr - Raleene