Leopard seal


What happens when a leopard lives
Within a seal's sleek skin
When no solace the ocean gives
Can buoy his sinking chin

What good then are fins to swim
When what he wants are paws
When all that nature offered him
Is seen only as flaws

What happens when his heart, it breaks
In ways no seal can mend
When pinnipeds lack what it takes
To truly comprehend

Yea, what fate the leopard heart
That finds a seal skin home
Forever and anon apart
And lost upon the foam


--Tonin, July 3, 2015