#80: July 12, 2006

I was swimming in water so warm and brown,
clouded by the strong sweep of my gray tail,
snapping up morsels at will, when a pale
swift silver streak drew my attention down.

I struck, then pain I'd never felt before
jerked my head up, sunk its fang in my cheek
and pulled--I fought it till I was too weak;
spent, I let the fiend drag me toward the shore.

And then, such light! It dazzled, struck me blind--
unfiltered clarity I'd never seen:
the patched-white blue sky, grass so violent green
that for one sweet moment I couldn't breathe.
Rough fingers in my mouth, I didn't mind...
then one sharp pain, splash, and my dull reprieve.