The Relation of Inanimate to Animate

Light verse that skims deeper themes,
Deep thoughts that trawl sunken verse,
Submariners in between—

This era is the era
Of the fission submarine,
Serious as submerged hearse,

Rarely surfacing in sun,
But not really capable
Of living entrenched in deeps.

We would rather be the wrecks,
The whalefalls left to bone worms,
Or the blubber cut on deck.

Or we say so. We don’t know.
We’ll be gone once we’re below.