Who reached into the dark abyss

in search of the ocean’s opulence?

Spherules filled with water

in a cadence with the silent waves

Who knew mother nature

laced its body with flares of toxin

Delicate blades pierced and sliced

rubbery skin glued to its flesh

Who mistook this fragile creature, scaled with tiger stripes

Becoming foreign delicacy

Carefully crafted hands manifested years of rehearsal

tugged away its papery gills

Who dared to touch its fatal flesh

morphing with these tides 

Delicate escalopes of pearly sashimi laid upon the plate

salty from sea of tears

Who crushed its bones and tugged the skeleton

carcass, empty, barren, worthless

Mother Nature humors irony

left powerless

its liver, bladder, and eyes swelled

as heedful fingers

tossed away fugu’s delicate threads of vengeance