Herculean Oceans, (1-10) Poem by Captain Cur

The below set of sea poems, Herculean Oceans, were written in reverence and honor to the beauty and power of our wondrous oceans. They are written in varying poetic styles. All have been previously published, they are contained here complete in one cohesive work. I wrote them in the hope they might instill a love and respect for our vital oceans and our part in protecting these life giving treasures. A small sampling below:

Oceans smile in salt stained innocence
And charm through a strangeness unveiled
Above the waters in the fountain of their tears;
And on those solitary nights
When the moon hangs in breathless kiss
floating in timeless ecstasy,
Reflecting waters, moonlit alchemy,
Communing with a starry sea,
Composing in unnumbered symphonies.

The above lines taken from the poem,
'Composing In Unnumbered Symphonies.'

1) Riptides Of Fevered Devotion
2) Altar Of Poetic Death
3) Vassals Of The Sea
4) Teeming With Life In Evolution's Maze
5) Dangling From The Ceilinged Sky
6) Mounting The Saddle Of The Moon
7) Birthing Infant Waves
8) Lighting The Skies In Velvet Plumes
9) Composing In Unnumbered Symphonies
10) Theirs But To Fill

Riptides Of Fevered Devotion (1)

Herculean oceans, unlike all other beings,
In calming presence or in windswept waves
Reflecting splendor or minacious doom
Gifting to our eyes tributes all their own,
What admiral adventure the sea brings!

The greatest lakes may erringly assume,
In their mountain beds and plush woodland homes,
To be their equals in scope and pleasure,
Are they not fed from the valiant rivers;
But, still can hear the rolling tides seethe and rave
In the dark channels of the salt ravines,
Upon the waters of the blue tinged vales,
Through liquid breath that scents the crystal air,
Cloud bursts, fickle sunlight's reclusive beams,
Thunder's gregarious light charged legions come down
Attracted by the ocean's glistening crown;

Tidal mountains bursting in orange flame
Commensurate with dusk drenched evening skies
And each shard of sun whipped brilliance clinging
To the riptides of fevered devotion;
Sword like unsheathed winds with slaughterous aim
Amassed with four mighty arms swinging
In ecstatic rhythms, harmonizing
With harp plucked strings of a rainbow sweep
Arching between ribbed ethereal sails
Atomizing colors in naked sleep;

Caverns echoing with deep commotion
Listening to the grinding of earthly faults
Enwrapped within their own coarse legacy
Movements not even the oceans can constrain,
Though gifted with their own ceaseless motion,
Rumbling along a wide and raucous path
Cadent disturbances when once aroused
Pound warring chests that heave beneath the ground!

Altar Of Poetic Death (2)

Fearsome ocean! Lone mystery to me,
In sublime trance upon these waters strange,
What moves below in darkened fantasy?
I cry out but my words drift in dismay!
How then to bear this unknown influence
This unrequited love bound up in chains?
Whole of beauty heard in pure timeless sound,
I float helplessly, wingless on the waves
Food for creatures with cold unfeeling eyes;
Unbidden, then I the unwelcome guest
At a loss for more gifted words of praise,
Past years rethought, a mind that once glowed bright
Gasping with each painfully uttered breath;
But, from some phantom light an image raised
A more robust, younger, enticing one
Its marvelous thoughts and dreams outnumbering
The days and nights slain in wasted slumber.
My eyes turn upward, waiting there on high
Posey tightly curled in creation's womb,
Tearing in joy with spiritual salvation
I reach for that faint glowing in the sky
Pulling it deep within my shuddering breast
And pray to the unclad chiseled statues
Decorating the altar of poetic death.

Vassals Of The Sea (3)

What spirits thrive in the bowels of these remote worlds
For they are life exemplified by trenchant cold,
These spirits cannot fail! They must never die!
They hold the keys to a mighty realm, the keepers
Of the abyssal plain who walk the ocean floor.

Seafaring men have spoke of these unearthly forms
Satiating their hearts with foreboding and fear;
Outlines of ghoulish shapes in tempestuous storm
Erubescent manifestations thinly veiled
On shifting tundras unfathomably deep
Where the voluminous waves mingle evenly spread
Gathering within themselves and mightily peak
Crashing down like edifices of liquid stone.

Some in their ignorance might call them hideous,
Scarred and riven faced with glowering caustic eyes,
Crude and elementary as all monsters seem;
Still their hearts pledged in sweet dalliance with the sun
And bask in the soothing trails of calm moonlit scenes
Voicing love that rises through the depths of silence
Forever enveloped by unbreakable vows,
A godsend to man, though man disassociates
Forgetting his original position, bowed.

Trapped beneath a crushing wilderness, deeds unsung,
Despite manmade menace, faithful, steadfast and mild
With peaceful solemnity will they always be
Staunch valiant caretakers and vassals of the sea.
In formidable currents to be reconciled,
May their gracious selfless acts never be repealed
By man, their presence novel but misunderstood,
As we ourselves are predisposed for greater good
Together in a pact our lives and theirs will seal,
To fully give ourselves to Herculean Oceans
We can redeem ourselves, we can begin to heal.

Teeming With Life In Evolution's Maze (4)

The tides, the waves, the floods, though boundless stream
Return back those waters to where they dwell,
Unquenchable, untamed heaving basins
Fueling the ire of homespun hurricanes
In allegiance to their cause. Oceans dream
Impinging upon landscapes in their sleep
And by the feeblest margins are they bound,
When with wolf like presence suddenly leap
Laying claim to the humble works of man
And all separated from them at birth
Reunited forever in the sea;

All things warm and green, that live, breathe and sound,
Things that walk, fly, creep or prowl, every dell,
Chasm, valley in mute tranquility,
That which is high and inaccessible
enveloped by the waters of the earth,
For these their prey even the far mountains
Ages rose, spread as young foundations creeped;
Harvesting the falls, geysers and fountains
And ancestors trapped deep in glacial ice.
Mankind's doom, felled from his vain pinnacle
That no sun or moon, no mortal power
Can prevent this relentless siege on life.
No more a city, a deluge, a ruin!
Will man's screams be heard through the rain drenched skies?
A perpetual vat churning, stewing,
Encircling trees and lakes and rich sweet soil.
I shutter as our world is drawn down
But pay homage to Herculean Oceans
For by our own waste we are overthrown.

Glaring then this image, a man less world,
Never can he reclaim his dwelling place,
What once his home now forever spoiled
And all the working's of his mind are gone.
Total annihilation of a race
Remnants swirling in tumultuous swells.
On this aquatic world warm sunlight beams
Perhaps live cells of humanity cling
Like mucous to the walls of air filled caves
And a novel spark of creation gleams
As the waters acquiesce and recede
Returning to the place of their dwelling
And leave in their wake majestic rivers.
From the land dormant seeds rekindling
As the greening age of paradise flows
Teeming with life in evolution's maze
Something new, unique, unhuman moves there
Taking its first breath, struggling in the salt charged air.

Dangling From The Ceilinged Sky (5)

Ocean winds stroke the waters here below
While they weave their tapestries as they pass
Throughout the clouds, their threads of silken white
Dangling from the ceilinged sky, briefly cast,
Drifting on the breeze in spooling hours
Mixed formations sewn in lightest wisps
Reflected by the waves flowing under
Wondering how each piece so tightly fits,
Seeming to waver in constant motion
Struggling to wander off and break free,
Dangling on the ends of patterned loops
Giving their treasured works back to the sea;
Rising higher, mounting each tiny rill,
Then suddenly streak in wild commotion
Dissolving into warm vaporous mist
Until just a slight glimpse of them remains,
For the sun is bored and no longer smiles
And the wind refocused mightily strains
Bursting them in the guise of woven rains.

Mounting The Saddle Of The Moon (6)

Herculean Oceans habitually bear
The weighty presence of their flowing might;
Soft winds coo them with fragrant lover's breath
Evoking ripples in the star drenched night,
At times mounting the saddle of the moon
Riding out the tides as they yawn and stretch,
Ever deeper they go in dark descent
In the bonds of the elements they share.
Perhaps the dozing sun has to contend
With waiting flowers eager to enter
His well lit home, smiling breaks his rest
Slowly opening his circular door.
The wind is busy flirting, oceans brood
Accustomed to a life of solitude;
Bringing their secret thoughts to fruition,
Harnessing their strength, binds that contain them
Loosening, fluid bodies of the sea
Quietly hungering for things out there
In the green landscapes of imaginings,
To fill this world and all its vacant tendencies.

Birthing Infant Waves (7)

Oceans pulse and breathe,
Rhythmic tides their breath
Through veiled partitions
Eyes submerged in rest;
Counting patterned stars,
Phases of the moon,
As they slowly drift to sleep
Her fingers gently pull,
Covered in their wavy beds
By sheets of lurid blue.
Unconcerned what time they wake
Though somewhere it is morn
For their many days are spread
Across this lovely world,
Soon arising with the sun
And birthing infant waves
In the waters of this calm,
Life, wonderful and strange.

Lighting The Skies In Velvet Plumes (8)

Across the coasts in rushing sweeps
Enchanting is that ocean sound
When it combs the sand and scrubs the beach;
The wrestling pebbles might respond
Clattering against the shore
In distinctive flips of smooth round stones,
While the seagulls pluck and pick and blink
Sun is shifting on its fiery seat,
Soft winds whispering in gossipy tones
Whom had seen the most of this world.
All descendants of that primal power
Joined in marriage with mist and cloud
On the dawning of that first solar day,
Consummating love through the virgin night,
In fibrous sheets they roamed and loomed
Lighting the skies in velvet plumes
And wrapped this earth in nature's robe.
Ah! So wild and wide and beautiful!
As the twin lights of sky unfolded;
As winds blew, this shapeless maiden
Took form, a sight no mortal eye beheld,
braided with forests, dells, mountain flowers
And in her hand a frozen wand
Of majestic sapphire blue
And smote it down upon this earth
And to all the oceans gave liquid birth!

Composing In Unnumbered Symphonies (9)

Oceans of this impenetrable world!
Mystery lies within their deep embrace
Harmonizing waves sounding out their song
In solemn strains, that music which is loved,
Surmounting choirs on towering steps
Emerging from the shadow of the depths.
Melodious tunes from their surface spread
In movements and symphonies of flowing grace,
Then chanting earth songs in crude native breath;
Unstoppable, uncounted as the hours,
Voiceless throats that rise in pulsing power
Accompany their soulful offerings,
Traveling far and wide,
Echoing from the mountains and the hills
Influencing life with unbroken will.

Oceans smile in salt stained innocence
And charm through a strangeness unveiled
Above the waters in the fountain of their tears;
And on those solitary nights
When the moon hangs in breathless kiss
floating in timeless ecstasy,
Reflecting waters, moonlit alchemy,
Communing with a starry sea,
Composing in unnumbered symphonies.

Theirs But To Fill (10)

Oceans move, eons till their race be won
Horseless atop the earth and sinking sun;
Unclouded skies, delirious and bright
Tremulous ride the waves in living light,
Mavericks bucking wildly as they throw
And thrash about unsettled deep below,
Their journey long, an endless wide expanse
Contained by shores as powerful and vast.

By divine ordain these treasures given,
By tenderest winds their massive bodies driven;
Within basins they sensually pour
Passion mounting while fingering the shore,
To touch, to leave their essence on the sand
To cradle earth within their liquid hand;
A precious sadness lingers on them still,
Their existence level, theirs but to fill.