Beneath Alaska’s skies so wide,
Where seabirds soared and oceans cried,
A silent killer came to shore,
A warming sea, a chilling lore.

The years of fourteen through sixteen fell,
A heatwave’s grip, a silent knell,
Four million murres, a life undone,
By warming waters, and a blazing sun.

Oh, common murres with wings of grace,
What fate has carved your fragile space?
The sea once teemed, your haven wide,
Now barren depths where dreams subside.

Marine heatwaves, a deadly tide,
Stretching vast, no place to hide.
Kelps wither, corals pale,
Life unravels in warming’s trail.

The trophic chain, a breaking link,
Food and balance, are on the brink.
Predators starve, their voices wane,
A choir of death in warming’s reign.

Not gradual shifts of decades past,
But in a single year, a shadow cast.
A sudden blow, swift and grim,
A chapter dark where hope grows dim.

The oceans whisper, a haunting sound,
Of ecosystems turned around.
Once a cradle of life’s embrace,
Now a battlefield, a dire place.

Yet in this loss, a story burns,
A lesson sharp, as the planet turns.
Can we not heed this mournful call,
And rise to save the lives of all?

For every murre that met its fate,
A warning lies—too late, too great.
The seas are changing, the tide is clear,
Will we act or drown in fear?

So let us fight for oceans blue,
For seabirds lost, and futures too.
The murres may rise, if we unite,
To cool the seas and end this blight.

Beneath Alaska’s skies so wide,
Let hope once more in waves abide.
A cry resounds, the seabirds sing,
To save the earth, and all life bring.

.    .    .