by D.H. Lawrence
They say the sea is cold, but the sea contains
the hottest blood of all, and the wildest, the most urgent.
All the whales in the wider deeps, hot are they, as they urge
on and on, and dive beneath the icebergs.
The right whales, the sperm-whales, the hammer-heads, the killers
there they blow, there they blow, hot wild white breath out of
the sea!
And they rock, and they rock, through the sensual ageless ages
on the depths of the seven seas,
and through the salt they reel with drunk delight
and in the tropics tremble they with love
and roll with massive, strong desire, like gods.
Then the great bull lies up against his bride
in the blue deep bed of the sea,
as mountain pressing on mountain, in the zest of life:
and out of the inward roaring of the inner red ocean of whale-blood
the long tip reaches strong, intense, like the maelstrom-tip, and
comes to rest
in the clasp and the soft, wild clutch of a she-whale's
fathomless body.
And over the bridge of the whale's strong phallus, linking the
wonder of whales
the burning archangels under the sea keep passing, back and
forth,
keep passing, archangels of bliss
from him to her, from her to him, great Cherubim
that wait on whales in mid-ocean, suspended in the waves of the
sea
great heaven of whales in the waters, old hierarchies.
And enormous mother whales lie dreaming suckling their whale-
tender young
and dreaming with strange whale eyes wide open in the waters of
the beginning and the end.
And bull-whales gather their women and whale-calves in a ring
when danger threatens, on the surface of the ceaseless flood
and range themselves like great fierce Seraphim facing the threat
encircling their huddled monsters of love.
And all this happens in the sea, in the salt
where God is also love, but without words:
and Aphrodite is the wife of whales
most happy, happy she!
and Venus among the fishes skips and is a she-dolphin
she is the gay, delighted porpoise sporting with love and the sea
she is the female tunny-fish, round and happy among the males
and dense with happy blood, dark rainbow bliss in the sea.
the hottest blood of all, and the wildest, the most urgent.
All the whales in the wider deeps, hot are they, as they urge
on and on, and dive beneath the icebergs.
The right whales, the sperm-whales, the hammer-heads, the killers
there they blow, there they blow, hot wild white breath out of
the sea!
And they rock, and they rock, through the sensual ageless ages
on the depths of the seven seas,
and through the salt they reel with drunk delight
and in the tropics tremble they with love
and roll with massive, strong desire, like gods.
Then the great bull lies up against his bride
in the blue deep bed of the sea,
as mountain pressing on mountain, in the zest of life:
and out of the inward roaring of the inner red ocean of whale-blood
the long tip reaches strong, intense, like the maelstrom-tip, and
comes to rest
in the clasp and the soft, wild clutch of a she-whale's
fathomless body.
And over the bridge of the whale's strong phallus, linking the
wonder of whales
the burning archangels under the sea keep passing, back and
forth,
keep passing, archangels of bliss
from him to her, from her to him, great Cherubim
that wait on whales in mid-ocean, suspended in the waves of the
sea
great heaven of whales in the waters, old hierarchies.
And enormous mother whales lie dreaming suckling their whale-
tender young
and dreaming with strange whale eyes wide open in the waters of
the beginning and the end.
And bull-whales gather their women and whale-calves in a ring
when danger threatens, on the surface of the ceaseless flood
and range themselves like great fierce Seraphim facing the threat
encircling their huddled monsters of love.
And all this happens in the sea, in the salt
where God is also love, but without words:
and Aphrodite is the wife of whales
most happy, happy she!
and Venus among the fishes skips and is a she-dolphin
she is the gay, delighted porpoise sporting with love and the sea
she is the female tunny-fish, round and happy among the males
and dense with happy blood, dark rainbow bliss in the sea.
Healing songs of Whales & Dolphins
Deep Meditation Music for Harmony of Inner Peace
David Herbert Richards Lawrence
(1885–1930) was an English novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter who published as D. H. Lawrence. His collected works represent an extended reflection upon the dehumanizing effects of modernity and industrialization. Lawrence’s opinions earned him many enemies and he endured official persecution, censorship, and misrepresentation of his creative work throughout the second half of his life, much of which he spent in a voluntary exile which he called his “savage pilgrimage.” Lawrence is now valued by many as a visionary thinker and significant representative of modernism in English literature. (Annotated biography of D. H. Lawrence courtesy of Wikipedia.)
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| Poet D.H. Lawrence |
Summary of Poem
D.H. Lawrence's posthumous 1932 poem “Whales Weep Not!” is an oceanic, mystic lyric from Last Poems that counters the human view of a cold, indifferent sea by portraying whales as warm, passionate embodiments of the life force, divine love, and primal sexuality.
- Hot Blood in a Cold Sea: Lawrence opens by challenging the assumption that the ocean is cold, arguing instead that the deep sea houses the hottest, wildest, and most urgent blood belonging to whales (right whales, sperm whales, hammerheads, and killers).
- Sensual and Divine Mating: The poem shifts into explicit, metaphorical descriptions of whale mating - likening the physical union to mountains pressing against mountains and equating the whales' blowhole spray to an ecstatic release. Lawrence populates this underwater realm with burning archangels and Cherubim passing back and forth across the bridge of their union.
- Nurture and Protection: Enormous mother whales dream while suckling their young with wide-open eyes, while bull-whales encircle their families like fierce Seraphim when danger approaches.
- Aphrodite and Venus: The poem concludes by locating a wordless, divine love in the salt waters, celebrating Aphrodite as the happy wife of whales and Venus transforming into playful dolphins, porpoises, and tunny-fish filled with "dark rainbow bliss".
Literary & Thematic Analysis
- Critique of Modern Rationality: Lawrence rejects mechanical, human-centered worldviews and the cold detachment of modern civilization by projecting raw, vital energy onto the animal kingdom.
- Eros and the Sacred: True to Lawrence's recurring themes (seen in works like Lady Chatterley's Lover), he merges the erotic with the spiritual. Physical passion between whales is not base or profane, but sacred and attended by celestial hierarchies.
- Intertextuality: The poem converses with Herman Melville's Moby-Dick, reframing the whale not as a terrifying or adversarial monster to be conquered, but as an ancient, majestic monarch of natural grace and vitality.
- The Imperative Not to Weep: Commanding whales to "not weep" elevates them into immortal, self-sustaining testaments of existence itself - the beginning and the end of life force in the silent deep.
Photos of Mothers and Babies
