Swimming With Sharks

A poem

Shark against a black background. Photo by Laura College on Unsplash.

Her love is like a tidal wave

That pulls you out to sea,

At first as pure as the sunlit memories

Of the childhood, still in your heart.

Then deeper and deeper you’re pulled in still,

Water filling your lungs, and

Love strong enough to kill.

Down below the fishes go,

Bubbling at your feet.

And to see her face among them then,

With gills around her cheeks,

You’d might as well have been made of rubies,

Your face so scarlet red,

Your teeth composed of shiny pearls,

Tears like diamonds.

She wants you there —

There with her —

Make no mistake about it.

A shark can live in polluted waters,

Oils staining it black,

And you’re not even a guppy,

With waterlogged lungs,

And no way back.