NATURE Poem: I Feel Hope When I Look at The Sea, by Aurore Sibley

The pelicans soar so close to the water as the waves come
into shore, over and over again, their rhythmic melody
all crash and foam and gliding wing together,

The purple flowers of the ice plant are blooming again,
despite what the papers say, despite the accelerating
warming of ocean and land, and the fires, and the heat,

and the floods, and the terrible wars, especially the wars.
I expect that the ice plants will go on blooming, even
after human life races to its inevitable close, but yes –

the pelican, who looks as though he’s been around
since pre-historic times anyhow, will remain, following
the curve of the water as it rises and storms, flying away

from smoke and ash and high winds. The animals will adapt
as they are able, and the mean violence that humans inflict
upon each other will vanish, and the whale may yet endure.