aquarium

by Annette L., 17

The innocent goby
knows naught of

the jellyfish’s wedding dress
lined with creamy lace,
the elusive eel’s idle glances
as it lounges slack-jawed on the sand,
the clownfish smitten by
the enticing wave of an anemone.

But it knows of
the invisible glass,
both a cage and a shield,
a lonely seashell
far from shore,
the incessant gurgle
of water bubbling from above,

without forgetting
its longing for home.

Olympia, Washington