cracked by warring tides of gravity,
tectonic plates of crystal fold on fold
have fixed in place an ancient web of frost.

glacial mesas locked mid-heave reveal
the creeping ages set within their walls,
bands of mystery cast in varied blues
which darken down abysmal crevices.

prism floes deep-frozen into time
scatter diamond darkness through the void,
twice reflecting light against the skies.

Aquasphere

forever sealed from solar rays,
hidden waters rise and fall
throughout a dim translucent realm
beneath an ever-shifting dome.

salts and sulfurs permeate
the fluid motions of the deep,
recycled on a never ending tide.

colossal forces seethe between
a circumscribing rind of rime
and glowing bursts of molten rock
which shock the heavy flood to life.

superheated waters smoke
from vents within the stony floor
and spread throughout an ever-drifting stream.

Emanation

something stirs within the all pervasive black,
awakened from inertia; shapes begin to form,
which venture slowly out across a liquid realm
to feed and reproduce adrift eternal flows.

adaptations propagate until the waves
which roll in giant caverns against the icy crust
are filled with luminescent entities.

membranes, fins, and tentacles of every kind
propel imagination throughout a sheltered flux
where kindred songs reverberate across the depths
like shakuhachi timbres steeped in swaying swells.

and weaving through bespeckled stands of kelp-like worms,
leviathans glide easily amid their gleam,
microbes swirling gently in the wake.