Charybdis

By Clara Blair

(Charybdis is the name the ancients gave to the great whirlpool, dreaded by sailors, in the sea near the island of Sicily. This poem was written after a friend complained about the trouble he was having with the fish he put in his backyard garden pond.)

Something really wrong here.
Water moving strangely.
Gills feel pressure pound.

Something pulls me closer.
Where are all the others?
I can't turn around!

World was still and quiet.
Now that rushing noise
Is more than just a sound.

Is this what they call fear?
I don't want to go there,
Moving round and round.

Now I see their bodies!
Broken golden bodies!
No use that they're found!

I've also found Charybdis,
Swallower of life,
An egret in the ground!

Stupid little goldfish
Keep clogging up the pump
In my pretty garden pond!

© 2002 Clara Blair