An aquarium without a face

I've always hated aquariums. A pocket of the sea to be capitalized on, an aquatic assembly moving from one end of a tank to the other. It was the perfect example of what our world had come to: trading beauty for capitalism, the exchange of nature for profit. And you know this very well. So, explain to me why the only aquarium in the city stands right by your house. Until I had met you, I didn't even know it existed. But then again, before you, I didn't know about many things.

Walking through a sea of blue,

Our eyes met at once

Like someone I once knew

You felt surreal,

Watching fish swim in schools

Surrounded and captured

The prey for our muse

Like a play without a stage

Like a heart without a tune

Walking through, we fabricated

The love we fell into.

We'd visit the aquarium often, and watch the guppies swim fleetingly.

Tap, tap, bang! The sound of your fists echoed through the hall. The dread in your eyes said it all. They were stuck, just like you, in a place you couldn’t recognize anymore. What was that reflection in the glass? Was it still the person I had met, or were you also swimming? Possibly back home, or were you realising that your home didn’t exist anymore? Your mind was deeper than the sea, and it was a trench I could never reach. “The guppy went the other way; we can catch it if we walk down.” But instead, you grabbed my hand and led me out of the aquarium. Hand-in-hand, we walked inside the trenches of your mind.

And quickly, I discovered

That a cage was all they knew

That a guppy couldn't last

In a glass of stilted blue

"Don't you see? Just like me, they're never getting out. Their lives are sold away and gone, without doubt. We'll never get to change the world from where we stand, but hopefully some day, this all burns to the ground."

He was right, but was I going to fight off the feeling in my chest? "This was where we met", trembling just a bit. "That's not what I meant, the world is just a bitch."

So we shared the same sight

And saw what everyone knew

Deep down, it wasn't right

Taking life for revenue

So after that day,

The aquarium still went used

By the people we'd shame

"Oh, their pockets, what they fuel"

"Capitalism! And destruction?"

"Yes, the world has grown so cruel"

"To apprehend these beautiful creatures"

"From their homes of natural blue"

"The sea is where they belong"

"And I belong with you."

How short did that last?

While the aquarium stood so bold,

Too weak to hold my hand,

How the world had took its toll

And on that final day,

You said you'd never forget

The look upon my face

When you said there was nothing left

But a world broken and bruised

The aquarium was all the proof

That I needed to see the truth

We stood inside a ruse

What else was there to see?

But glass and stolen sea?

Swimming, broken, theived

Taken and never free.

Now, the guppy swam alone

Making profit with each day

The revenue generated

An aquarium without a face.

And I could say the same. It was the aquarium, on that day, where we discovered what love meant. Where we met our lonesome end.

Because the world was still broken, and we knew there was nothing left, but memories lost in blue, and the lives for revenue.