Do not go gentle into that dark sea, so filled with toxic waste and algal bloom. Rage against the dying of the manatee. The precious sea cow has nowhere to flee, with death of sea grass nothing to consume. Do not go gentle into that dark sea. The flows from farms create calamity by nourishing the algae driving doom. Rage against the dying of the manatee. These gentle giants have no enemy but humans, who over them careless zoom. Do not go gentle into that dark sea. Mistaken mermaids, lacking vanity, for more than sixty million years they boomed. Rage against the dying of the manatee. Now floating weakly, robbed of dignity, their passing will stir the greatest gloom. Do not go gentle into that dark sea. Rage against the dying of the manatee.
Villanelle to the Manatee
A slow body moves through water clouded by what’s been poured in.
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