Gelatinous Being

Lying dormant on the sand
Left behind by an uncaring
And receding tide
To dehydrate
To a thin, dry film
Hopeless and helpless;
Inanimate and doomed
Once out if its
Huge womb-world
Of land-bordered
Salted sea
Where it was fluidly
Free to be.

Rhythmically pulsating no more,
A vague suggestion
Of life that once was
The hapless jellyfish languishes
As substance dissolves
In the open air
Into nothingness.
Sun and breezes
Are not generally explosive,
But to the land-bound
Jellyfish,
They are devastatingly
And quite terminally
Corrosive.

Beauty in life
Transformed
Into paper-thin death.
Children are cautioned
Not to step on one;
Irrational adult fears
And superstitions pervade
In families where
Reasonable explanation
Is not required to persuade.

Most of us would never wish
To become a washed up
Jellyfish.