Immortal Jellyfish
I ask’d thee, ‘Give me immortality.’
—Alfred, Lord Tennyson, ‘Tithonus’
Pinkie fingernail-small. No brain, all brawn.
I bloom in ballast water, bell awake
in a cell a far cry from the marquee
of the sea. You goggle at, prod my art
—unfussed, cruciate, scarlet. Have a heart,
you pray, aspiring Tithonuses. Make
known to us your mystery. Let me be
crystal clear—just the unfeared can redawn.
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