a whale for the almighty

has a whale ever been trapped
in the carcass of a volcano?

an atoll in the middle of the pacific?
or does it depend on the reef

and the dunes and the way the sun
shines off the surface of the solar panels

that speckle the beaches
and modest rooftop of the

Tokelau town hall? and would it
take all the people there to get the whale

back out to sea safely if it had
been trapped in the first place? and would

there be enough time for the whale
to survive, swimming past the sharks

hidden in the surrounding shallows
as they wait for fishermen to leave

and the remaining fish to settle back
into tight schools for better hunting?

or is all of this irrelevant
because a whale knows better

than to get stuck anywhere at all
unless it planns to make such a sacrifice

in order to keep mystery and science alive?