My eyes wandered to a

Jellyfish

And I threw a fit-

Please,

Let me back on the boat

 

Phantom stings

Like paper cuts

Marked the bare skin

I do not like to show

 

Soon saved by metal and glass,

I looked down at the pink ghost

again,

Now jealous

Of its passive tentacles

And expansive gelatin,

A friendless,

Unconscious float

A melting candle

A leaf,

Drifting like a lone lottery ticket

 

But I imagine even that elegant devil

Ended up washed ashore

A corpse

As children explore

With a prodding twig

Its listless limbs,

Now exposed and draped across the sand,

Vulnerable

 

Captured by metal and glass,

I cannot be stung anymore

Still, there is fear

and wonder

and envy

But I am mostly glad

I never had to

Bare my flesh to a stranger