Time is a precious commodity
when you know yourself too well
Know when you know better.
I knew from the start this time
The charm came too soon
and I liked being adored
but when he cast his net
I never got caught
Instead I slipped free
and escaped his night trawl
fell tumbling
d
o
w
n
to a jet black ocean floor
I shut my shell up tight
every opening a risk to
my soft grey centre
Ssssssssssand sifted across my sea bed
There was safety in solitude
‘i can’t stay shut forеver’
I dont need to.
I just must avoid
the fishermеn
the sailors
the soldiers
the boys
who will suck
out my pearls
peel off my shell
boil my body
&
call me dinner
Slowly but surely
I became a sparkling clam
spending days in sun rays
on virgin gold sand
elegant and violent
strengthened by escape
from the butchers above
who knew nothing of love
Just the ritual massacre
“Bait Scrape Suffocate”
One friday night I thought
is death really worse
than eternal loneliness?
Is the danger of damage
better than its absence?
I spend my days in silence
at the bottom of the sea
cool dark and clean
now safe and serene
yet I yearn
to open up
and return
to sea level