ADHD Dribblings: Poems & Thoughts From A Mind Lost In Motion

This Tale's a bit Fishy

I hate the old line,
"There's plenty of fish in the sea."
Yeah, well, no shit.
There was you and was me.

You told me
when you left me,
As they told me
when they met me.

But I don't want all the fish
one can see in the sea.
I wanted you,
Just like you wanted me.

I saw your scales
from a mile away,
Shimmering and dancing
for all that would play.

Scales that bore light,
And that light did not burn.
Scales that made songs
That sirens should learn.

And soon I realized,
as I danced in return,
that we felt the same frequencies,
Unseen, unfound, and unheard.

We swirled and we spun
And lost its direction.
Until our eyes settled down
And I caught your attention.

For just a moment,
I saw you. You saw me.
And for just a moment,
It was as if we could see.

But as our eyes settled further,
I saw that your glow
Came from within,
From depths I didn't yet know.

You paused in your darkness,
Scales gleaming in brightness,
And for just a moment,
You saw me for my likeness.

My shine, it would seem,
is from light's deep reflection,
As I turn and I twist
to change its direction.

You swam a bit closer,
Too heavy to rise.
Afraid of the surface,
believing it's lies.

I tried to swim deeper,
to make you feel a bit lighter,
But my density I found,
Took away all my power.

And so I must wait
Until someone else traps you,
And brings you from the sea's depths
Onto some savage dinner menu.

And as I watch you glisten,
Netted with all the others.
I'll try to convince you to swim
further, out, down, or together.

But the crowd is all mixed,
Some buoyant, some float,
Some could take you no deeper
Than a cat's empty throat.

You'll look from your net,
As you cannot flee,
"Look here, don't you see?
There's plenty out there like you and like me."

I'll wail again, "Bullshit!
You know I don't care.
They are not you.
Don't give up, don't you dare!"

You'll sink to trap's bottom
To give me your last words,
As my density brings me up closer
so that they can finally be heard.

You'll catch your last glimpse
Of my scales vibrant light,
And look to the source
Always lost to your deep night.

You'll say in a wave
Of your melancholy,
"I always longed to see
Firsthand what you showed me.
This light, the sea's barred
From deeper oceans be,
And kept you from knowing
And from you knowing me."

The light, once reflecting,
Will darken in shadow.
Plenty of fish as they rise
To waves chop chop chopping block's bough.

I'll thrash at the twine
as I've seen done before,
Of tales ever lasting,
With my tail already torn.

I'll slash and I'll gash,
With striped fins sharp like daggers.
You'll say, "I never noticed
Your tail had such patterns."

"Please don't give up!
There's much left to see,
What makes you You,
And what makes me Me."

I'll chew at the cord,
A new line to be shored.
Crash at the boards,
As if fate could be moored.

Those outside looking in,
Will stop my behavior.
They'll all tell me the tale,
How we can't all be saviors.

I'll watch you finally rise
In awful sea's sight,
As your glistening is lost
to the sun's damning light.

I'll lower myself
Sink deep til it's done.
They'll tell me again,
"Plenty of fish to be won."

And I'll look all around,
Neither you or me to be seen.
And I'll hear not a sound
In our frequency's key.

As I lay in the sand,
As if where we began.
My scales won't be bright,
Not reflected by land.

I'll hum your best song
As bestly as best canned,
And add all the good times-
The sounds of days better spent.

A spark from within,
Will burn through my darkness.
And I will glow once again
As I once saw you did.

And so our song will be sung,
Rung out once again.
And I'll twirl on my own,
With my tail in my hand.

The bottom dwellers will gather
And look to my bands,
Never seen such a pattern.
Tail's tales of dry land.

Below me, once submerged,
A funny, flat fish will emerge,
And lift me slightly up,
To give me a chance to be heard.

I will laugh as they croon
At my silly banned sight,
And create a new song
Without day, without night.

I'll teach them the tale
Of my new song's old knowing,
And watch as a net
Finds all others seagoing.

And when they feel fear
Of what they now see,
Of how they could end up
Like you and like me.

I'll say, "Spread the word,
tell these tales of we,
So there's plenty of fish
Left out in the sea."

10/21/21