Scales

Scales

A Poem by May Flowers

Bend, bend, push

off the ground. My feet

disengage from the Earth, into the air, and then 

I’m 

d

  o

w

  n,

plunging toward the blue. My toes break

the surface first and soon

I’m completely enveloped in water.


I am a fish,

a rainbow fish,

with scales and fins. That’s all

anyone can see through those heavy

snorkeling masks.Why

must I hide 

beneath the waves to feel free?

Why can I not be myself in the sunlight?

What is there to be afraid of

up there? Here there are sharks;

there are poisonous jellyfish and stingrays.

Up there they speak in poisonous tongues.

I’m told to choose. Why

should I? Why be one

color when I can be them all?


I swim

d

  o

w

  n

to the depths where no 

sunlight can reach me. Without light, no one

can see the color reflecting off my scales. 

My identity disintegrates 

in an instant. In this lifetime, 

I will not be given a say. 


I can’t swim forever, but a fish

cannot breathe on land.

I sink.

I sink,

all the way to the ocean floor. 

It is then that I realize I do not have gills.

I cannot breathe.

I am not

a fish. 

© 2015 May Flowers


My Review

Would you like to review this Poem?
Login | Register




Share This
Email
Facebook
Twitter
Request Read Request
Add to Library My Library
Subscribe Subscribe


Stats

132 Views
Added on November 5, 2015
Last Updated on November 5, 2015
Tags: poetry, poem, rhyme

Author

May Flowers
May Flowers

About
work in progress more..

Writing
Nebula Nebula

A Poem by May Flowers