THE BALLAD OF THE MANTIS SHRIMP AND THE DISCO CLAM

Emerging from the deepest dark
He’s cocksure and loaded for bear
He never needs an easy mark
His strike turns water into air
He can see things that others miss
With his ultra megavision
Bashing his path through this abyss
Is his way- not a decision
 
The thought would never come to mind
That super sensitivity
To light of many different kinds
Could be a negativity
But that’s unconscious insight
To peaceful lady of the deep
Who offers him her sacrifice
Such sweet flesh it could make him weep
 
And for the merest fraction of
A second he thinks he has won
Poised to have at her from above
She lights up like a flashing sun
Suddenly he’s catatonic
And she goes back to her lazing
(Maybe finding it ironic
That he’s prey now for sharks grazing)