to sleep, perchance to dream

A fish swims in a pool of light;
A puddle of glowing water.
It seems fins only glide through waves.
Bubbles: breath in tandem.
Can gills respire without fluid aid?

Lustrous splashes:
Blazing, burnishing.
Company, vital in tails and stream.
Breathing, flood conjures beads of air.
Can liquid respire without borrowed gills?

But luminance descends and shallows,
A puddle is but a drop,
And a drop: so neglectful, so meager to bait.
And breath, so futile, so in vain.
But clinging, clinging to each scale as a survivors wish,
Coating, only briefly, too sparse to surround.

A fish flounders in an iota of dusk;
A tear of blackened sea.
It seems fins only glide through waves.
Trembles: flutters in solace.
A fish must drown when surrounded by sky.