In a Dolphin's Eye

Do you know that dolphins are gentle mammals?
Do you know poachers still butcher them?
Do you know they are highly sociable, highly intelligent?
Do you know they touch the souls of the sick and can heal them?
Do you know they have saved humans from drowning?
Do you know, despite cruelties done to their kind,, they still like us?
If you know this . . .you won't be able to read this poem . . .



In a Dolphin's Eye


In a dolphin's eye,
I saw ancient mysteries
of the deep unfold,
         regret that swam
         in his retina pools
weeping through my veins.

In a dolphin's eye,
I felt oceans recede
to polluted tides
         from where he lived
         in once foam-free waves
seeping through his gills.

In a dolphin's eye,
I heard distant chants -
songs lost to man,
         ones he sang
         his gifts from the sea
before poachers stopped listening.

In a dolphin's eye,
I saw his murderers,
the ship that took him
         the men that cut him
         leaving his eyes
to tell the Story.