Some fish don’t wander.
They stake out a rock, a patch of kelp,
and make a life of waiting.
Decades pass in the rhythm of surge and slack,
territory drawn not by fences,
but by patience.
I dive back, year after year,
and there they are.
The same wary eyes,
the same subtle tilt of fins—
as if to say, I’ll let you look,
but this is still my home.
I love them for this.
For the stubbornness of staying put
when the rest of the ocean
rushes and flickers by.
If allegiance means anything,
maybe it’s to these still lives
woven into kelp forests,
holding the world steady enough
for me to return,
to count them,
and feel counted too.
—
Phillip Levin is a conservation scientist and marine biologist at the University of Washington. He currently serves as the Director of The Nature Record initiative (formerly, the U.S. National Nature Assessment) and is the Executive Director of the University of Washington’s EarthLab. Follow Dr. Levin’s work.
