We Are Not Sharks

We are not sharks:

We have the gift 

of stillness. 

We do not have to keep moving 

to keep the air flowing through us,

to keep alive, to keep sated, keep feeling,

to keep on, to keep on, to keep-

We may pause. 

We do not have to 

lose our minds

at the scent of blood. 

We do not have to be

an integrity 

only to ourselves. 

We are not sharks;

all that is not us

is not food 

or death 

or darkness;

All that is not us

may be all that matters. 

We are not alone;

We are purposed 

beyond reason, 

We, the still, 

the quiet,

the hungry,

but not hunting -

We are not sharks.