Under the Sea

"The barnacles which encrust the side
of the wave, cannot hide
there for the submerged shafts of the
sun,
split like spun glass, move themselves with spotlight swiftness
into the crevices---
in and out, illuminating
the
turquoise sea
of bodies. The water drives a wedge
of iron through the iron edge
of the cliff; whereupon the stars,
pink
rice-grains, ink-
bespattered jelly-fish, crabs like green
lilies, and submarine
toadstools, slide each on the other."
---Marianne Moore