When Dreaming Ends, Whales Begin to Sing

Maui, 2023

Then a breaching, singing bull

Heaves with massive, strong desire

To offer his shuddering call

Of going on – upward and forward

Before falling in the soft clutch of the sea.

And a thousand thousand grips slip

Out from weaves in those thrumming taps

A map in moans on where to roam

Or bubbling names for new born calves

In the wet mists of a mother’s breath.

If you put your head under water

You hear the tomes of ancient tones

This mighty love from ageless depths

As whales gather to dream and sing

Under the tiny, familiar stars.