About the Shark, phlegmatical one, <br />Pale sot of the Maldive sea, <br />The sleek little pilot-fish, azure and slim, <br />How alert in attendance be. <br />From his saw-pit of mouth, from his charnel of maw, <br />They have nothing of harm to dread, <br />But liquidly glide on his ghastly flank <br />Or before his Gorgonian head; <br />Or lurk in the port of serrated teeth <br />In white triple tiers of glittering gates, <br />And there find a haven when peril's abroad, <br />An asylum in jaws of the Fates! <br />They are friends; and friendly they guide him to prey, <br />Yet never partake of the treat -- <br />Eyes and brains to the dotard lethargic and dull, <br />Pale ravener of horrible meat.<br /><br />Herman Melville<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-maldive-shark/
