Message in a Bottle

Message in a Bottle

Cast adrift from a child on shore

who’s seen too much and can’t ignore,

nets that tangle, oil that spreads,

bellies bloated, coral beds dead.

She wrote it quick, this salty cry

in a bottle tossed where seabirds fly:

“Please,” it reads, “don’t poison more

the silver life we once adored

Not every treasure’s gold or gem

some have gills and tails, not them

who scorch the reefs and choke the tide,

but those who watch, and those who hide

Save our fish, the blue, the bold

don’t trade them in for plastic gold

If this is found, then hear me true,

what’s left of them depends on you.