#191 - the old aquarium

11.7.20

191

the old aquarium

I remember

the old spiral staircase down

very Jules Verne

dream cartoon fish

and sea horse riding

jostle along under shark

so many varied glorious

colours of deep and shallows

so many such sharp teeth

corals dead of the air we breathe

sword and hammer

small fry too

at sea among such monsters

reflected in the glass

a nautilus spire down drowning

my glass bottomed head

among the dead men

darker the deeper you go but

view of the harbour

and yellow sands

there must have been music

down so many steps

slate and a hand to hold

something remembered from a dream back then

pirates had us on a plank down here

and someone said a locker

where the flying Dutchmen flew

harbour full of tugs, strange silver of another port

gruff beard of a voice and tales too far

of waves and the silence under

like a drill down

fathomless, on adventure

which is the same as voyage

green of the bush

and yellow the beach

there’s a ferry at the bottom

to bear us home, away