as shrimp boats lie still in
 the harbor waters,
the nets on fishing trawlers wave gently
     in the soft breeze,
 the crews standing on the docks
         staring into the hopeless
             future,
 their livelihoods snatched away
     when Leviathan slipped off
     the hook set for him
         in the deep sea.
the marshlands
 echo with the cries of
     the egret and heron,
     the pelican and seagull,
        who find their sheltered
             home
         a dumping station
                 for human greed;
the turtle with its young
 plods slowly along,
 knowing they cannot outrun
     terror’s tide about
     to sweep over them.
your heart is over the waters,
 Tender God,
     broken,
         aching,
             weeping,
                 longing,
     your keening voice
 joining the antiphonal
 soundings of the whales
     from the depths of despair.
THOM M. SHUMAN is interim pastor of First Church, Glendale, Ohio.
