"The Maldive Shark" Herman Melville

ABOUT the Shark, phlegmatical one,

Pale sot of the Maldive sea

The sleek little pilot-fish, azure and slim,

How alert in attendence be.

From his saw-pit mouth, from his charnel of maw

The have nothing of harm to dread,

But liquidly glide on his ghastly flank

Or before his Gorgonian head;

Or lurk in the port of serrated teeth

In white triple tiers of glittering gates,

And there find a haven when peril's abroad,

An asylum in jaws of the Fates!

They are friends; and friendly they guide him to prey,

Yet never partake of the treat--

Eyes and brains to the dotard lethargic and dull,

Pale ravener of horrible meat.
 

Herman Melville