Depth Sounding (1 June 2021)

“Dive! Dive!” _cried the Lt Commander—
the Seaview blew her ballast,
and began its descent into the depths!
Deep calling unto Deep
in a seven-year-old’s heart.

Captain Crane at the Helm,
the submarine submerged,
gracefully, with power_
waves frothing about its Conning Tower_
until the last of its sleek gray hull
disappeared
_beneath the naked waves.

Into the Depths!

And with them all I went_
down with the crew
Nelson, Crane, Sharkey, Kowalski,
Morton and the Chief, et. al. —
to explore realms as-yet undreamt of;
Imagination’s Advent!

For four years I went on the Voyage!
_It hailed me weekly!

 
Into the sounding depths_
Deep calling unto my depth
—awakening the soul’s poiesis[i]
in the sea-courses of my boyhood;
initiating a life-long quest for Depth;
ekstasis[ii] in anamnesis![iii]

The Deep within; the Depths of Nature;
The Depths of Mystery—
Deep calleth unto Deep![iv]
Unio mystica![v]

In remembrance of
“Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea”
14 September 1964 – 15 September 1968

[i] Term from the Greek for the “art of making,” i.e., bringing something into being.
[ii] Ecstasy; being “out of statis” or out-of-oneself.
[iii] Remembrance, memory.
[iv] Psalm 42.7
[v] Mystical Union