Out of the Box Coaching and
WORKING WITH THE ENNEAGRAM, Mary R. Bast, Ph.D.

 

All:  The World below the Brine

The world below the brine,
Forests at the bottom of the sea, the branches and leaves,
Sea-lettuce, vast lichens, strange flowers and seeds, the thick
       tangle, openings, and pink turf.
Different colors, pale gray and green, purple, white, and
       gold, the play of light through the water,
Dumb swimmers there among the rocks, coral, gluten, grass,
       rushes, and the aliment of swimmers,
Sluggish existences grazing there suspended, or slowly crawling
       close to the bottom,
The sperm-whale at the surface blowing air and spray, we
       disporting with his flukes,
The leaden-eyed shark, the walrus, the turtle, the hairy sea-
       leopard, and the sting-ray,
Passions there, wars, pursuits, tribes, sight in those ocean-
       depths, breathing that thick-breathing air, as so many do,
The change thence to the sight here, and to the subtle air
       breathed by beings like us who walk this sphere,
The change upward from ours to that of beings who walk
       other spheres.

Walt Whitman,
The Premier Book of Major Poets

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