The Departure of Waves

Alyson Van Dusen

When we stand before the beach
The waves rocking us back and forth
Pulling our feet under the sand
As if to cradle us and say we’re okay
This is safe

Right here we meet another world
Hidden below our air and clouds

Where turtles hide in seaweed
And brilliant fish
Find sanctuary in the living homes
That stretch for the sun
And wind to form an homage to the brain
Coral colors daringly bright under the blues

Where it’s so dark the sun has never known 
The bottom
And organisms create their own light
Bioluminescent squid 
Bioluminescent shrimp
And their twinkling stars 
Shining microorganisms
Creating solace in their light
Where they float with only the image of themselves
And float
And float
And float

And then there’s where we see the ships bellow
Over staggering waves
While whales make their trip to the surface
And remind us they’re there. 
Sharks’ dorsals peak through the currents
Making young eyes
Contemplate whether or not it’s a shark or a dolphin
Wonder breaks against our assumptions of what lies below 
With every wave crest and fall
And yet when we look close enough 
We see how she suffers
How the change in temperature
Causes oceans to warm
And leads sharks to the shore
Current systems teetering on the edge of disorder – 
We change the circulation because of our choices

And the Earth knows our wrongs
And seeks to change our habits
Unpredictable weather
Hurricane seasons growing
Forest fires indestructible
Droughts plentiful
Yet when she pleads for our help
In drastic ways
It’s easy to be complacent
For us to stay in place
And eventually
The only power we’ll have is to sit and wait

Alyson is a senior at Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Arts; writing and marine life have been a passion of hers for many years.

• SLV 2023 Table of Contents
• Voices of the Valley – Alphabetic List of Authors
• Sustainable Lehigh Valley booklet