Trickle and Lake

Shallow black water isn’t good.
There’s no depth swallowing the light,
Only dirt or darker contents.

Never drink a shallow darkness,
Much less try to take a deep dive.
Your guts will turn. You’ll crack your skull.

But you know that, don’t you? You’re not
A clueless creature, after all.
You can sense that trickle’s poison

Coming out of the great drain pipe.
Still, there’s always people down there
On their knees in a crowd, drinking,

Claiming a ritual cleansing,
Determined to jump in headfirst.
It’s a mess, that shallow darkness.

Meanwhile, up at the last clean lake,
Depths so great clarity shows black,
Few souls wander down to the shore.