Child And The Aquarium, The Poem by royness ( ' ' )

Alone in the aquarium,
I stare at the fish through glass

Their movements follow my fingers
This way, now that
To the bottom, to the
Top of the tank
And back
For a minute, I forget myself

I lift up the lid
Guppies wriggle up to meet me,
My fingers tickle the surface
Do they think I mean to feed them?
I have opened their sky, the light
Is pouring in –
I am only just beginning

I plunge my hand into the tank.
The smaller fish dart into the coral,
Frantic shrimp scuttle over the sand,
waving their feelers -
a crab withdraws into his shell

These waters are mine to explore
I am here to raise hell.
These creatures don’t know what they are in for.

With a swish of my hands, I command
These waters to rise.
I brush aside mountains of coral. Fish appear
And swiftly disappear
My fingers scissor through the water
Snapping at fins,
Angry as piranhas

Can I help you? He says –
In the tank, in this tempest
My eyes spy a second reflection
I stare at the hand in the glass

It is larger than I remember
Stems of anacharis
Curl about the wrist – fingers clench
And unclench, rippling and withdrawing

The man nods and moves on -
He is evidently used to this sort of thing.