Forgotten Waters

Click here to watch “Forgotten Waters” as a spoken word film.

Sunny day on the beach

Swim free and breathe 

Sand under feet

Clouds above reach

There is nothing to fear

Except that time of the year 

It’s jellyfish season

Watch out and retreat 

She will surround those who linger 

And sting those who stay 

No one would choose to remain 

You and I would think 

But some do 

Like rubies and pearls

Sinking into her pillowy gel mattress 

A warm host to brittle stars

Everyday 

She’s bejewelled

Vicious venomous monsters

We know from experience

Driven by our faulty senses 

From a limited distance

Remind me

What fuels our confidence

To reduce jellies to pain 

Because we choose not to engage

Home to the stars

She twinkles in the night sea

Her home

The oceans 

Her flesh

Forgotten waters

On the water she feeds

Like the blood we bleed

Except that’s literally all she is 

A bubble of water 

Clench and unfold

Autopilot on survival mode  

Passing by one another 

No vision, no pulse

No feelings, no rush

Now if we want to live forever 

That’s the closest we’ll get

Brainless, boneless and heartless

But I doubt that’s the eternity 

We want to possess 

Even the special immortals 

Those that wither and reborn

When washed ashore

Ninety-five percent gone

Leaving only a halo of gel

Shrivelled and deflated

Subject to weakness

Like any other life form

If we lend her our mind

I think she would feel 

The push of the currents

And the pull of polarity 

Prevent the pains that penetrate her body

And seek for the pleasures within

Ninety five percent water 

Confined to hydration

If she had a mind like ours

She would choose to protect her environment 

Because she is her environment

And so are we