Coral City 
by Michael Romani

Coral have this great capacity
To mold and shape their own city
The greater the subtle complexity
The greater is the biodiversity

To be healthy is to compete for space
A simplistic echo of our human race
Growing over, beside and even under
With a beauty that is a wonder

The Great Barrier Reef is a megalopolis
Sprawling across the ocean like a metropolis
The fish seemingly choose their own neighborhoods
That blend and interact in a system that is good

Nightshift, dayshift, each having their own time
Busily following their internal laws so sublime
A morning choir greats with its rhapsody
Grunts and groans make up the coral melody

Each fish and other species doing their own thing
And if you listen close, you hear them purr and sing
Farming fish and hunters who gladly share meals
This is the best of the best of symbiotic deals

This is nature's lasting sort of maritime nursery
Both for the animals and mankind's own family
Medicines to fight cancer are found in its chemistry
Protecting us on every level from all kinds of adversity

And while there is a sense of joy in every adversity
It is that overcoming that makes us feel happy
This is a case in which an ounce of preservation
Might take more than a little sincere dedication

But, it's very much worth the while
For mankind to go that certain extra mile
In every sense, the reefs are what feeds us
And so now, we must rescue them as a serious business

Taking steps, one at a time, in a misused sense of time
Whatever the many reasons, and whatever the truth of clime
The fact is, there are some things we find that we need
And that the coral reefs are this world's very own seed

(c) September 14, 2017  Michael Romani
All Rights Reserved