The World Below the Brine
This is a Walt Whitman poem about the diversity of life under and around the sea.
The World Below the Brine
Poem
The world below the brine;
Forests at the bottom of the sea - the branches and leaves,
Sea-lettuce, vast lichens, strange flowers and seeds-
the thick tangle, the openings, and the pink turf,
Different colors, pale gray and green, purple, white, and gold-
the play of light through the water,
Dumb swimmers there among the rocks - coral, gluten, grass, rushes-
and the aliment of the swimmers,
Sluggish existences grazing there, suspended, or slowly crawling
close to the bottom,
The sperm-whale at the surface, blowing air and spray, or disporting
with his flukes,
The leaden-eyed shark, the walrus, the turtle, the hairy sea-leopard,
and the sting-ray;
Passions there - wars, pursuits, tribes - sight in those ocean-depths-
breathing that thick-breathing air, as so many do;
The change thence to the sight here, and to the subtle air breathed by beings
like us, who walk this sphere;
The change onward from ours, to that of beings who walk other spheres.
Thanks and Acknowledgements
Image enhanced by Lisa.
