In the Dark, the Quiet, the Cold

​In the dark, the quiet, the cold,
Beneath the crushing weight of
Gelid sea, here are the frilled shark,
The vampire squid, no love

But ruthlessness, not yet even
Fear. The core of fear, coiled
Within the giant spider crab,
The goblin shark, the water roiled,

From this emerge the sea kelp forests,
The seiners, the longliners,
A floating restaurant, a salt wet wind,
An engine purr, the murmur of diners,

Two billion miles away, Miranda
Circles Uranus. There may or may not
Be music, but there is methane and
Helium, Miranda is torn and wrought,

And from the cold, or from
The searing heat of coils of stray
Solar flares ride traces of amino acids, 
Scraps of molecules, coils of DNA.