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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