Chasing Coral
by Michael Romani

Drawn to the magic of the oceans
The divers film from their emotions
It feels like time has slowed down
In wetsuits and flippers worn like a clown
An alien world on our own planet
Wide open for the explorer who can plan it

Sea turtles, sharks and schools of fish
Offered up and served on a coral dish
Teeming life everywhere does surround
In the blended beauty that does abound
It's a world most people will never explore
Lying out there just beyond the ocean's shore

Coral reefs are the source of all life
Or, at least the source of most sea life
Taken in survey, it's quite the journey
Filled with the fantastic and easy to envy
The plentiful sights amaze the conscience
Too much of it still unknown even to science

It isn't just the Great Barrier Reef
That brings us to our oceanic belief
It's the amazement of the something better
Out beneath the blue skies and beautiful weather
Sea horses give way to reedy sea dragons
It's a journey that will leave everyman bragging

One more of the beautiful creatures disappears
Out of sight, out of mind it becomes all too clear
That somehow, someway; someone must make the call
Before the world's hope has reached its final wall
The problem identified is one that we cannot hide
Except that its solution exists in looking from outside

There where no one seems to go so very much
And dead elkhorn coral has been lost as the nursery lunch
Until someone comes with the camera's eye
To bring this to light under the darkening blue sky
All the evidence is brought out for all to see
From the dregs of what is swiftly becoming tragedy

(c) July 24, 2017  Michael Romani
All Rights Reserved