Zostera Marina, great protector
Of small amphipods, isopods, gastropod snails,
And the greater pipefish,
To you we sing
Your nurseries of juvenile codfish, in your leafy domain you nurture
Your home of nudibranch and Cerastoderma mussels
Sister of Aphrodite, brother of Asherah
In the Baltic Sea you thrive, flourish, give life
Sister of Thalassa, brother of Salacia
Beyond male and female, you are abundance and nurture in grasslike form
Sister of Oshun, brother of Yemaya
You are both female and male in one,
With your great mothering force
Your meadows flourish with masculine abundance
Seeds travel far and wide on the ebb and flow of currents
Attracted to flowering, blossoming caverns of delights
Rhizomes reach in procreating growth, supporting roots and expanding vistas
Your poly-adaptable ways of fertility and regrowth
Your intermingling ways of sustaining life
Sweeping waters caress
You are strong and resilient forever
We see futures of eelgrass meadows already thriving!
We see futures of healthy waters and rivers
We see a Baltic Sea flourishing and flowering in peaceful abundance
We see you Zostera
To provide and protect ecosystem services, are yours, Zostera
To serve as fish nurseries, is yours, Zostera
To provide essential habitat for marine kin, is yours, Zostera
To play an essential role in great water quality, is yours, Zostera
To gather storage of nitrogen and carbon, is yours, Zostera
To clone and clone for thousands of years, is yours, Zostera
Resilience and transformation, are yours, Zostera
Eelgrass meadows were declining worldwide
Eutrophication was a major challenge
Driven by various threats,
Industrial capitalism, corporate globalization, violence and climate breakdown
Oceanic acidification
Waters were warm and sour
On shallow soft sediments of the Baltic Sea,
Caressing the edges of multinational shorelines
Spatiotemporal monitoring programs detected change
Depleted by heatwaves, algae overgrowth, low salinity,
Depressed by wars, conflict, pollution
Shrinking, loss and grief
Then change!
Waters are clearing, the sun kindles your seedlings
Protected and cherished
Sprouting, erective, vibrancy
Renewed growth, seeds, flowers, rhizomes, expanding –
You emerge in orgasmic energy
To exhibit high levels of sexual reproduction, is yours, Zostera
To reproduce sexually with flowers and seeds, is yours, Zostera
To reproduce clonally through growth and horizontal rhizome extensions, is yours, Zostera
To persist for centuries, is yours, Zostera
To adapt during climate change, is yours, Zostera
To purge deleterious mutations and form new genotypes by recombinations, is yours, Zostera
Limnic flowering, is yours, Zostera
Water flows and ebbs for pollination circulation of pollen dispersal between shoots
Increase, increase the ovules that are fertilized
Increase, increase high flower shoot density
Increase, increase, Zostera
We see futures of eelgrass meadows already thriving!
We see futures of healthy waters and rivers
We see a Baltic Sea flourishing and flowering in peaceful abundance
We see you Zostera
This Song of increase is yours Zostera