Septem Maria

image borrowed from bing

Septem Maria

“Words, of course, are the most powerful drug

used by mankind.”--Rudyard Kipling

from THE SEVEN SEAS. 

Our blue planet, in its infancy, was completely

covered by water, one vast pole to pole

body of water, one seemingly endless Salton Sea;

rife with terrible storms as armies of waves

clashed within the magnetic axis lines, pulled

about spastically by the new moon. 

Within all this turbulent saline, life began;

first a few random cells splitting, then combining,

until countless aquatic colonies were created

clinging to reefs, deep trenches, and the 

slippery sides of sea mounts.

Some of these primitive creatures developed

curiosity, and they visited the surface incessantly,

until the Forces-That-Be co-created some of them

sporting gills and nostrils, and lo, sea mammals

began to appear, preferring gulping open air to

breathing oxygen underwater.

Rising hourly out of the water with their huge bodies,

they kept searching the flat horizons for specks

of substance, because they felt daily the shaking

of the earth’s core, knowing that the magma heart

kept thrusting its cooling peaks & pinnacles higher

each eon, until one magnificent day

Land appeared, first as atolls, then islands,

then huge continents. 

The bravest of the open air-breathers began

flopping themselves up onto the land, remaining

longer each time before returning to the waves;

until Nature, or the gods, kept intervening, turning

fins into legs, then arms, soon adding prehensile

grips, before the clumsy little hands were created

complete with opposable thumbs. 

These creatures were eager to explore the lands

provided for them by the throbbing planet; some

of them beginning to stand erect, first on four feet,

then all the way back & up on two, standing tall;

allowing their natural instincts to become

dreams, intellect, & dialectics--but always, 

always amongst the diverse populations

there were men who longed to return to the sea

as sailors, fishermen, & explorers.

Early on a saying was used to connote splendid

nautical skills, mariners would say that they

“sailed the seven seas.”

One of the earliest records of this saying was Sumerian

in 2300 BC, and they listed them as

the Persian Gulf

the Gulf of Khambhat

Bay of Bengal

Strait of Malacca

Singapore Strait

the Gulf of Thailand

the South China Sea.

Later in Medieval Europe, they changed the list;

the Black Sea

the Caspian Sea

the Arabian Sea

the Indian Ocean

the Red Sea

the Mediterranean Sea

the Adriatic Sea--

and depending on the region, the list could include

the Aegean Sea

the North Sea

the Dead Sea--

aka the Sea of Sodom

the Sea of Galilee.

In Colonial times, sailing in Clipper ships

from England to China, “sailing to, and returning

from, the other side of the world”, the list was

the Banda Sea

the Celebes Sea,

the Flores Sea,

the Java Sea,

the South China Sea,

the Sula Sea

the Timor Sea.

In modern times as we place our cameras

in outer space, when we speak of the Seven Seas,

we are referring to all the oceans of the world;

the North Pacific Ocean

the South Pacific Ocean

the North Atlantic Ocean

the South Atlantic Ocean

the Indian Ocean

the Southern Ocean

the Arctic Ocean.

Today we call over a hundred bodies of water “seas”,

so as you dream of piracy, glory, & exploration,

just pick seven of them, any seven,

and sail the hell out of them. 

Glenn Buttkus

July 2013

Posted over on dVerse Poets Poetics

Would you like to hear the author read this watery poem to you?