The Ocean’s Lament

by MTyler18

January 8, 2018

Let us return to the beginning, O Great Ocean

You have endured as much suffering

As a mother whose wayward offspring

Walk in disobedience, heads held high, reckless

You call in a voice carried as far as the winds

But no one hears your distress

Or witnesses the toxic tears

Prompted by the ships’ forever lingering crude oil

“My children, someone please help my dying children!”

You weep, wail, and gnash your teeth as you writhe in agony

At the hideous spectacle of suffocating fish

Withering plants, and the overgrowth of algae

You fear that these dead zones will soon

Be the fate of your whole body

Let us return to the beginning, O Great Ocean

When your supply of oxygen, now lowered by the presence of sewage

Was sustainable for the creatures that resided within you

Before you were beset by fevers that cost the lives of your marine animals

Before fertilizers, petroleum, and pesticides—those villainous fiends

Crept into your vast beauty, sometimes aided by floods

And degraded your reputation, crippling you

Debris, plastic, and trash cling to your hair

Now matted and tangled

Plastic, like a virus never decomposes, but remains in your system

Your fish, seals, whales, and many more sacrifice their lives to preserve your majesty

These heroes are choked, snagged, and harassed by the vicious litter

Some bravely consume the plastic

And no one honors their valor by caring to prevent those sacrificial acts

Let us return to the beginning, O Great Ocean

To the goddess that you were

Assuredly, you deserve better than this

To be clothed in rays of sunlight,

Not drenched in oil

Which mercilessly prevents

The plants of the sea from receiving their daily doses of nutrients

By halting photosynthesis from occurring

Birds naively rest upon your oil-covered body

Resulting in heavy feathers

Sharks innocently beg to breathe

But are in turn, rudely slapped with oil on their gills

Humans, destructive progeny that we are, greedily mine for copper and gold,

increasing your toxic levels and hampering with life cycles

Let us return to the beginning, O Great Ocean

Before your illness stretched across the world

Runoff from rains, unknowingly traveled to the other parts of your body

Litter, that had misplaced its compass

Freely meandered farther than you wished it to

Your smaller children, foolishly stuck chemicals in their mouths

And as the food chain goes, were eaten by predators that were bigger than they

Humans killed those diseased beings of the sea for food

And fell ill themselves

The deadliness of chemicals does not discriminate

Between the sons and daughters of the world

All are subjected to its harsh wrath

Which accumulates in people's bodies

And punches away at their health

Let us return to the beginning, O Great Ocean

You cradle God’s tears

Holiness tainted by your unclean temple

Which is by no fault of your own

As a helpful daughter, I pick the specks of litter

That have made their way into your bounding main

Because I have not turned a blind eye

To your unusually dark depths

With oil bubbles floating at the top

To the pictures of sea lions being strangled by plastic lassos

Large black eyes wistfully questioning humanity’s intentions

Or to the unfamiliar, burning that persists in my throat

After accidentally drinking your toxic waters

While going for a swim

Let us return to the beginning, O Great Ocean

When you did not need the assistance of the EPA

Now, in order to save your children,

The Endangered Species Act subjects

You to check ups in order to observe the impact of pesticides on your creatures

Initiatives, like the Clean Water Act

Seek to lower metal concentrations in your waters by testing sewage

I must remind you, O Powerful Sea

That not all of your children are insubordinate

Not all of us are carelessly shoving poison into your mouth

Not all of us will stand by as observers at an unfair boxing match

Some, like myself were just born too late, when the damage was already done

However, my covenant to you is to ferociously avert further harm inflicted upon you

Let me help you return to the beginning O, Great Ocean

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