Jellies

From tiny polyps they emerge
Into the ocean blue
Beautiful graceful beings
Medusozoa good and true
Only one per cent survive
Their strobilation stage
Gelatinous medusa
Bioluminescence
All the rage

Energy accumulates
From chemical reactions they
Ward off or evade predation
It lights up their way
Can be to lure or detect prey
Or communicate we see
This miracle emission
And abundant energy

For 500 million years
They have swum
The oceans
Some so deep
Tentacles and swirling domes
And bells
And we may reap
The splendour in their ballet
Their flawlessness we see
Pinnacles of perfection
But still a mystery

A myriad of colours
Some toxic by design
The murk uplifts their spectre
Each source of light divine
A mantle in a night sky
A fireball from the mist
Beacons of the believable
That our eyes cannot resist

Combs in dark green waters
Lake anenomes
Hairy stingers
The dangerous box
And the portuguese
Man o war
They are out there
With venom to behold
Plankton gulping celestials
Who clearly now are sold

On the wonders of the ocean
Those beings who would chew
Like the leatherback
And the bold attack
Of the whale shark
And those who
Have massive understanding
That the mineral rich though small
Can maintain the power of beings
Without huge teeth
To enthral

In this nutrient rich soup silence
Exist such wonders they
Give balance to nutrition
And great size can then play
Out into the being
The baleen whales they know
The marvellous blood rich stew of nature
Where great beings grow.