Poem by Herman Melville

The Maldive Shark

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. 

1. Crossing the Tropics
2. The College Colonel
3. Jack Roy
4. Lines Traced under an Image of Amor Threatening
5. The Haglets

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