Sharks and Minnows

Innocence lost is playing sharks and minnows

When you stop to breathe, look around, and suddenly

all the minnows have turned to sharks except for you

And they are poised and ready to leap.

Suddenly the shallow end plunges as deep as the ocean.

The depths are an eerie black that beckon you downward

And before you know it the undertow has pulled you deep "

Deeper, deeper, heavier and heavier.

The air is in your throat and the space between your ribs

But it just can’t escape or replenish.

 

After months maybe years currents pull you up up and down.

You gasp and breach for a moment before being pressed back below.

And the air is so sweet and crisp that you bear the hours in the dark

Dreaming of a sun you thought you heard calling.

 

One day the current streams you to the surface

You gasp and gasp but the pulling has subsided

The breaths become easy and longer and the tide sweeps you onward.

The waves bear you to shore where the air is smooth and safe

The sand is warm and the sun kisses your shoulders

 

But in the shallows lurk the sharks.

 

Somehow the sharks look smaller, and though they bite and thrash

You are breathing steadily, and the fear runs off you with the salt.

For the wave that bore you to shore crests, made of minnows

And crashes in the foam by your toes.

 

 

 

Reviews

[kxa]

This is beautiful! My favorite part was the "pull you up up and down" - your imagery is on point :)

[S. K. Burke]

thank you! :)