The Maldive Shark -- Herman Melville
About the shark, phlegmatical one, Pale sot of the Maldive sea, The sleek little pilot-fish, azure and slim, How alert in attendence be. From its saw-pit of mouth, from the charnel of maw, They have nothing of harm to dread, But liquidly glilde on his ghastly flank or before his Gorgonian head; Or lurk in the port of serrated teeth In white triple tiers of glittering gates, And where there find a heaven where peril's abroad, An asylum in Jaws of the Fates! They are friends; and friendly they guide him to prey, yet never partake of the treat - Eyes and brains to the dotard lethargic and dull, Pale ravener of horrible meat.