Deep Water Epithalamium Poem by C Richard Miles

Idling, in the un-plumbed depths,
The gargantuan leviathan slumbers,
Every silver-finned dweller of the deep
Thrills, in uncountable numbers,
In restless, breathless anticipation
For the proximate, long-told approaching
That is the festive, nuptial union
Of the King and Queen of the Ocean.

Now the proud procession passes;
Kelp-bedizened denizens assemble;
Dainty, painted sea-anemones file past,
Writhing, waving tentacles a-tremble.
Now march in the groom’s attendants;
Sea-monsters, wreathed in salt-sprayed wrack,
Observed by shy, long-clawed supporters:
Hermit crabs, with conch shells on their backs.

Jaunty pipefish, sailor-like approach
Writhing past, in serried-rank array,
Sport five-striped, jade-bejewelled apparel,
And reedy, naval-hornpipe dances play.
Snapping, red-backed lobsters pay attendance
With their laughing, clapping, Spanish castanets
And angler-fish shed light upon the scene,
Illuminating eerily the parapets.

The curtseying ballerina jellyfish,
The bridal party, now arrives in state
Elegantly whirling, in twirling pirouettes,
On pebble-strewn, marble promenade.
Darting, opalescent gobies zoom and whizz,
The flaxen-tressed, fair mermaid-bride to see,
Amazing the spectators as they rush,
Untrammelled, with tremendous velocity.

The great whale serenades the august event
And, opening wide his giant, baleen throat
In rumbling, tumbling, ocean-rending song:
Unnatural in tone, yet nature’s deepest note,
Unites the massing, sub-aquatic host,
In peerless, euphonic encomium
To Neptune and his spouse, his tribute bearing
In this deep-water epithalamium.