Night-time in the Abyss
On the seafloor, homely creatures—
tube worms, eel pouts, giant squid—roam
the vast abyssal plain.
Cold skinned, stone blind,
they root the sand
and lick the ancient bones
of whales.
Once, an asteroid crashed to earth; the sun
went out. The keepers of the deep
held their rhythms, precise
and slow, in the profound
darkness.
Today a vast industrial city
passes over head, lights the night sky.
Huge propellers. Hull slick with toxic
tin. A sailor, rail-side, flicks
his cigarette stub. It lands
in the oily wake
of this new leviathan.
Page(s) 303
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