In the belly of the ageless Deeps

there are rivers and currents,

subterranean jet streams;

a sunken terrain of shelves and trenches

pocked with reefs, valleys, cliffs

 and coral beds

with their own forests of kelp,

grassy Savannahs, sandy deserts;

basins filled with sediment and debris

 -and who knows what, lost civilizations-

rocky outcrops, canyons and ridges

born from fumaroles and volcanic atolls;

a habitat for life-forms

stranger than any alien fantasy.

The ancestral source for all earthly life

incubated in that watery womb

and, who knows, ends there -

now frequented by submersibles

and military submarines,

 littered with rocket and nuclear detritus

and research paraphernalia;

latticed with cables, techno-industry

and other fishy-business;

saturated with toxic rubbish and effluvia,

secret installations and devices;

 laser and sonar, knitting satellite

to sea-bed and antennae

- by grace of some hooked-in, egg-head

at the kitchen table.

 

As above and so below!

So what about the interface between,

the surface realm where they meet?

The place where weather

and climate arise:

hurricanes, waterspouts, tsunamis.

The glassy surface ridden by the winds,

albatross, gulls, oil tankers and ships

breached by dolphin, turtles, seals

above the vast migratory shoals of fish;

the sunless depths, by octopi and squid

entombed alive by the ocean's weight.