Beneath the waves, a story swells,  
Of fiery seas and tolling bells.  
A warming ocean, wide and deep,  
Tore through Alaska, stirred its sleep.  

The common murre, in skies once free,  
Danced above the boundless sea.  
Four million voices, now silenced still,  
Felled by a heatwave’s cruel will.  

From 2014 to '16's cruel span,  
The ocean burned and defied its plan.  
A marine heatwave, fierce and vast,  
Changed the future, erased the past.  

No gradual shift, no creeping hand
This was a storm none could withstand.  
In just one year, the balance broke,  
Half their kin turned to ash and smoke.  

Kelp forests withered, corals waned,  
The vibrant seas, by heat, were stained.  
The food chain faltered, top to base,  
A cascade reshaped nature’s face.  

No fish to catch, no prey to chase,  
Empty seas, a hollowed space.  
For seabirds perched on rocky spires,  
The ocean's wrath became a pyre.  

Marine heat waves now haunt the globe,  
A deadly shroud, a burning robe.  
Life displaced, torn from its home,  
Through empty oceans forced to roam.  

What of tomorrow, we must ask,  
To cool the seas is a daunting task.  
Will we ignore the warning signs,  
Or heal the earth, redraw the lines?  

The murre’s lament, a somber song,  
Tells us the time to act is long.  
For every bird that soared, then fell,  
The ocean tolls a mournful bell.  

O tides of fire, cease your roar,  
Let life return to every shore.  
For in the balance of sea and sky,  
Our fate rests, should oceans die.

.    .    .