What Lies Beneath

The rays of sun bounce off the dancing sea

The perfect way to hide what lies beneath

The turquoise waters spray their fluffy foam

As sparkling sunlight masks what’s underneath

The eye can see this beauty at its surface

The tree, but not the forest as a whole

It fools us all, it fakes a shiny smile

We cannot see the nature of its soul

Old, splintered ships, the slabs of rotten wood

In thick, gray sand, the remnants of a wreck

Cream-colored bones now brown and shattered skulls

From those who drowned, abandoned at the neck

The unforgiving creatures rule the night

The pitch-black darkness glaring in the caves

Torn flesh from whales who’ve died there, belly-up

Throughout, the salt makes cold, invisible graves

And yet, when there’s a stormy hurricane

The violent water thrashing horribly

That seems to be all that the people see

For they don’t know the beauty it can be

Young dolphins tucked beneath their mothers’ fins

Their joyous squeaks that echo playfully

Glistening schools of fish dash left and right

As otters float along so gracefully

The colors bloom across the coral reef

New turtles learn to swim in fives and tens

Pink jellies, paper-thin, wave ribbon legs

Small iridescent shells house pearly gems

The layers of life from surface to sea floor

Are truly beautiful in every way

We have to learn to pass the sparkling surface

So we can know what lies beneath today.