A Beluga Laments

Everyday you come to stare
look and wonder
at my beauty and my mystery.
Watch me swim around a
                                                r
                                                 o
                                                  u
                                                   n
                                                     d 
                                                       around a
                                                                        r
                                                                        o
                                                                       u
                                                                      n
                                           around around
around my watery cell.
See me float
like a bleached piece of wood,
I wish I could drift away
to the place
- my strange memories
of ice water 
ancient songs.
What am I to you?
A lost piece of yourselves.
See how you have marked my destiny
A specimen
A curiosity
An exhibit
Let me be a reminder
of your childishness
and your selfishness.
Let me be a martyr
for those stolen souls
who come after me.



This poem is dedicated to the memory of Kairo, the Beluga whale who spent 26 years in captivity in L'Oceanografic, Valencia, after being captured from the wild in Russia in 1996. He died April 27 2022, in captivity.