To Drown in the Silent Sea
Cerritos, CA
2018, Senior, Poetry & Spoken Word
In the fractal gaze of the Arctic thaw
Another ice shelf crumbles
The remains of a glacier’s shattered limbs
Collapsing down a slippery slope
Purity dissipating like a fleeting memory
As white reluctantly yields to parched brown
Clinging to the last remnants of ice with outstretched claws
The polar bears were the first to drown
Weary white spectres inseparable from the snow.
Resigning themselves to the current
Hope always slipping
Another mile away
With truth shielded by thinning drafts of snow
Sweet oblivion becomes as elusive as rare drops of water
Escaping into the salty sea
Yet all we see
Is just the bare tip of the iceberg
Wistfully melting away
Below the facade of the shimmering mirror
Where the blue of the sky kisses the blue of the sea
Lies another teeming world
Covertly silenced by an unseen fever
As the toxic fumes of our ever-burning flames
Spew venom into unsuspecting realms of effervescence.
Gone are the tangled forests of seagrass
The darting frenzy of flashing fish
Choked by inexorable heat
Smothering out every pocket of air
And leaving desolate ghost-towns
A reminder of past perfection
Taken for granted
And the jeweled coral adorning the ocean floor
Surrenders its color to the pale veil of death
Fragile, blooming gardens suffocating
Vibrant vitality snuffed by scorching acid
Leaving graves of bleached, hollow skeletons
The sand in the hourglass slips away
Buried by a relentless wave
Lapping at our toes
Pleading for redemption from our sins
As it swallows the shore
And another island sinks in the rising tide
Still, we cast the blame on nature’s fickle mood swings
In our fruitless quest for fool’s gold
Another day, another inch higher, another thousand fish departed
As our fires spread with unquenchable thirst
Setting even the defiant water ablaze
Until we join the polar bears
floating fish
coral corpses
Dying of thirst
With saltwater filling up our lungs
To drown in the silent sea.
Bibliography
“Climate Change Indicators: Oceans.” EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, 2 Aug. 2016, www.epa.gov/climate-indicators/oceans.
Reflection
Reflection
Oceans are the lifeline of the earth--if it dies, we inevitably die along with it. With such a huge issue like climate change, it can be overwhelming to try reversing the accumulation of years of damage, but it is imperative to change our direction before it’s too late. Although the tone of my poem is bleak, it paints an image of a likely future where not only marine life is devastated, but also our own. “To drown in the sea” is both literal--as sea levels continue to rise--and ironic--as freshwater runs out. I wanted to portray the dichotomy between the most apparent consequences and the ones that are less visible, yet still as important. While most are familiar with the issue of receding ice and the plight of the polar bears, these are only the most noticeable indicators of global warming. We don’t always see the destruction that happens under the surface of the water. Fewer people understand the connection between greenhouse gases and processes like acidification, coral bleaching, and depleted oxygen levels, which threaten marine life all over the world. Despite the fact that climate change threatens every single organism on the entire planet, many leaders still turn a blind eye to the issue or turn it into a partisan debate. If we can’t have global cooperation, then the future is bound to be grim, even catastrophic, as ocean levels rise and life in the waters are forever silenced.