We Pray That We Will Find Silence

At the bottom of the ocean,

In a mariner’s trench so deep

That Hillary could have climbed it,

We pray that we will find silence.

 

So carefully we tap the phones,

A titanium-encased bug

That we place in the ocean’s heart

So that we can find its stillness.

 

Yet even here, beneath the waves,

We can still hear nature breathing;

Earthquakes crackle through the damp air,

Humpback whales groan and glug with joy

Serenading lovers unseen,

Whilst typhoons pass by overhead.

 

We try escape, but we cannot

Yet halt the never-ending whine

Of a passing ship’s propeller,

Nor the niggling feeling of doubt

That we are all just voyeurs;

Listening without permission

Then ruining the symphony

By running onto nature’s stage

Screaming “Look at me! Look at me!”

 

 

This is a poem that was inspired by the research that is currently being done by researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), who have been listening to the deepest part of the world’s ocean. Instead of finding silence, they found a dissonance of sounds ranging from whale song to the noises made by passing ships. You can read more about this research here.

 

An audio version of this poem can be heard here.