Pelagic, like magic
You soar over the open sea
With balletic grace
So effortlessly

With wing spans titanic
Nine, ten, eleven feet or more
Few humans will see you
So far from our shores

Your longevity
Rivals even our own
Your poignant curiosity
Touches our hearts and our poems

But your numbers are waning
The same old story we know
Human greed and carelessness
Our shameful shadow

Baited hooks by the thousands
Float for miles behind boats
Fatally caught, you are drowned
When the lines are played out

Seafood is big business
Often criminally so
Illegal boats really don't care
If you stay or go, into extinction

I eat seafood rarely now
It's a tiny act, small in scope
But of the sort we all undertake to help Earth cope
In this feeling of community I can find some hope