Subsurface Seas

One journey’s almost at an end; I must
at last be near the ocean mysteries
that lie beneath Europa’s icy crust.
My melting-bores break through to briny seas
no human could explore: too far, too deep.
Machines make better scouts. My carapace
(and all within) is sterilized to keep
invading microbes from this precious place.

I find volcanic rifts where chimneys soar
into the gloom. Near plumes of scalding brine
from smokers, alien octopuses shine
their speech of scintillating photophores.
Another journey’s just begun; I’ve found
that awesome vistas open all around.

Author’s Note: Jupiter’s moon Europa has a surface of ice, but scientists think that miles below there are oceans of liquid water (approximately sixty miles deep!). The environment described in my poem is based on Earth’s deep-sea hydrothermal vents, where extremely hot, mineral-rich water pours out of rock chimneys (called either black smokers or white smokers depending on the color from the minerals involved). Hydrothermal vents have been considered as a possible site where life might have begun on Earth.