When the Whales Leave

When the Whales Leave was published in Issue #2 (December, 2025) of Harrow House Journal.

And I stand watching the sunset dipping
gold and purple into the ocean and think
about what it will be like
when the whales leave—

Do you? You always said their beauty
and power were overwhelming: we
could never let them go.
But I am cursed to imagine it—

the shape of a world left behind, silent
of melodies ancient as stardust, bereft
of shadows deeper than memory
lost dreams haunting silvered ripples

of water and we didn’t even care. Names
lost in the spindrift and waves, Blue,
and Humpback, and Minke, their fluid
grace a memorial to the achingly majestic

world we inherited—and then destroyed.
Perhaps we won’t, you say: perhaps there
is still time to learn, to save them, maybe even
to save ourselves. I am not optimistic.

The greed of gold and power always
a sharper siren call to those who rule
than ever were the echoing cries running
wild and raw through fathoms of water:

and that emptiness is what it will be like
when the whales leave.