Sirens, sharks and sharp rocks threaten shipwreck;

gentle waves promise peace;

but water bends light, re-shaping and re-sizing,

scattering and re-collecting the things that lie below.

Playful, silvery creatures flash by in shoals,

some tame enough to eat from your hand.

Some have teeth and poison fins, and we cage ourselves in

and block our ears when they batter the bars.

Depth-distorted, sunken cities of calcified coral

build new and intricate structures, 

the ghosts of spires, homes and hamlets,

and the current disturbs their clarity and drifts us away.