The Sea Departed (a poem) - [2015]

The Sea Departed

When the sea departed, no one saw;

it drifted off to sleep –

picking up its waters and packing up its reefs.

The night was hot and grumbling;

the Earth was still and groaned,

but the sea slung on it coral-sack and bore off on its own.

The rivers joined it in its wake,

the reservoirs and streams,

‘til every lake and every pool had given up its means.

Then swashing up to atmosphere

and ebbing toward the stars

the sea released its whirlpool arms and drifted off to Mars.

On Earth, there was never a drip

nor drop to stir or save.

The seas had given up the dirt and left without a wave.

We wondered at our desert world,

and why the seas were gone –

we blamed each other for the loss – then blamed it on the sun.