Underwater Graveyard (Poem)

Years ago, when it was just us,

the reef was a beautiful place

each morning, the delicate rays of sunrise

would pour through the ocean’s skin

falling

down

deep into the depths

glistening and dancing on the forests of coral

that shone with their staggering diversity

some flat like flying saucers

some reaching out like fingers

and others like spaghetti lace;

drifting with the rhythm of the sea

oh, and the colours –

how they would glow

a radiant spectrum

of fiery oranges

nightshade purples

and yellows that made the sun envious

natural cities that grew inside this cyan universe

their streets alive with creatures

that you could only dream of

entire civilisations lived here,

gliding

dipping

diving

a harmonious existence

always moving

never colliding

all part of the cycle

from little eggs

to big fish

and everything in between

sustaining and surviving

maintaining the balance of the world

from the comfort of their sandy seabed

but then the heat began to creep in

and with it,

the crowds of land-born creatures

arrived with thundering propellers

that tore through our silent world

where we spoke without words

the pungent taste of oil

sank down

deep into our cities

polluting everything we knew

some swam down to stare at us

blinding us with strange lights

that didn’t belong down here

and then, the nets arrived

cascading

down

trapping everything in their grasp

our young and old went up in the rope

we watched them go,

powerless and afraid

forced up into the world where we couldn’t breathe

their rope caught onto our high-reaching forests

and we watched our kingdom

violently fall to the seabed

most fled, before the next wave returned

but I don’t imagine they got very far

we heard stories of how they began to starve

choking on something that looked like coral

but it never filled up that hollow deep inside

and as time passed,

the fields of colour started fading

to a pale insignificance

as the corals shed their painted skins

an underwater blanket of white snow

settled upon our forests

and the water turned to acid

we could no longer live in a place like that

and without a home,

thousands perished

the streets once filled with life

transformed into a barren world

and the only ones with the power to change this devastation

are the ones dropping down the nets

it was a beautiful world

before the humans arrived

Taken from Forgotten Planet: A Poetry Anthology.

Cover image by Julia Kerrison: @juliakerrison