I explode from the water shooting high into the sky,
twirl around, dive back down, looking very sly.

I flap my tail, splashing water everywhere.
I love flipping around, doing tricks here and there.

I play with my friends, we race between waves.
We do what we please, we're nobody's slaves.

We chase a school of fish, shaped like a ball.
I fill my belly, knowing I ate the most of all.

We swim away from a bunch of sharks lurking a ways away.
I send some clicks and sounds, and finish my play.

I take a nap, shutting off half of my brain,
while the other half is awake so I can never be slain.

After I rest, I swim around the bay and explore,
discovering coral and shells near the shore.

An empty coke can floats by my head and I snort with rage in disgust.
I swim deep down and past a old plane that is fully covered in rust.

Not paying attention to my surrounding and humming peacefully,
I almost get tangled in a net as humans raised it with a pulley.

I return to the reef and lay down in my bed of seaweed.
An arrow punctures my stomach and I bleed.

This is how dolphins die now and then,
so stop all the poaching and all of the sin.

~N. W. Ballew