<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class=""><span style="font-style: normal;" class="">Amplitude</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;" class=""><b class=""></b><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Blue Whales have hearts</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">the size of a Volkswagen Beetle.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">This dauntless organ pumps</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">blood into arteries a grown</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">man could crawl through.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Having been on land </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">and found it wanting,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">they returned to the sea</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">where they could move about freely, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">breach the surface,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">and perform resounding re-entries—</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">bellyflops the envy of any</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">corpulent twelve-year-old boy.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">They can grow to be 100 feet long</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">and outweigh a garbage barge </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">bursting with plastic waste</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">that would cover </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">the entire state of Texas.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">They are larger than life.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">I’d like to glide</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">with their ponderous grace</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">and wave across the waves</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">at the human display on shore.<br class="">
</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">Their singing can be heard</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">across entire oceans.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">They carry in their enormous </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">bodies a bonded love for one another,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">and within all that immensity,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">a single spindle cell to conjure</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">unbearable sorrow.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 14px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">What they must feel</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">for humanity making</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">of their world,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;" class="">a watery grave.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Steve Trenam</div></div></div></body></html>