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Reef
A creator of land is hiding,
concealed beneath aqua shade.
In shallows where, reaching skywards,
the fronds of the forming atoll
break the waters from below.
A cascade of thinning blue,
foaming through with a white, refreshing sigh
that draws a breath and returns again.
Cleansing the ageing newness
of lime-clad cnidarian clothing.
Some discarded, none wasted.
Within encrusted boughs
a host of life abides for
freedom, food and fear.
A diving mass of herds and hunters
parading in the marine’s rainbow show.
A chorus of multi-coloured livery
dazzling the untrained eye.
Where to look next
is the key to knowledge
of the deep
and here, too,
the truest glance reveals
a prize of the living vista,
uncapturable, almost unseeable.
Synthetic lens and eye inadequate
in the quest to cage beauty.
Aquatic lungs, oases from above,
descend as reservoirs of intrigue,
a desire to be away but home
and frustration not to live here;
to understand the awe of timeless life.
The clipper chances passage
in uncertain waters,
but man’s boast of sail
graces the seen, harmonising
with the blue highway,
costing only the homoured skill
and courage of the sailor.
The secret lies amid the blue.
But Nature’s eyes –
beneath, within, above;
virgin islands revealed to Her
time-forsaken gaze, lasting
upon the waves
with unknown patience.
But, with never a doubted wave,
knowing and respecting the toils of
the comrades of coral colonies,
united in their common cause,
a fond fellowship of fecundity,
have found and freed a home.
Freeing life’s inexorable power –
constructing and adapting,
without waste, with justice.
Soon to be a colony,
within and below the air,
as the first adaptable visitors,
already arrived by fortune,
test the way ahead.
Gaia’s voice and will are heard
and the cycle continues,
never complete.
© Andrew Williams 1995
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