whales

bounty

the sun sets toward the horizon

behind dancing palm trees,

clouds and sky conspire with it

to draw us into appreciating its show,

and suddenly, below the sunset,

a whale blows, and breaches,

blows, and breaches,

blows, and breaches,

each leap into the air

applauded by those of us on shore,

whale and fish, like us, drawn here,

not because of the depth of the ocean

but because of the contrast of depths and heights,

a 10,000 foot dormant volcano

standing on roots deep into the ocean,

here where the thermal mass of so much water

tempers, conditions, releases,

it is in the holding of those extremes together

that niches appear within which life flourishes,

whether the flowers and trees

which can cascade plant beauty upon us,

to the ocean where diversity and bounty run amok,

and cascade sea bounty upon us,

we find ourselves here, daunted, humbled,

blessed with an excess of glory. 

by Henry H. Walker

February 21, ’16