A moment that changed the way I see

Stung

 
A moment that changed the way I see
Myself in surf on my trip to Tunisia:
Hardly a highlight it hurt so hard and long
On an evening when the sun was gone
After burning us bad in the day
 
Wading into the cool Mediterranean
Off Hammamet, deep enough where the sea
Moves you where it wants, and you are left
To wonder on its pull. Dark enough the mind
Cannot contend with the possibilities
 
It was in the second I was watching the sky
Lit by a gone day, dark enough for stars
That the creature stung its fiery lash
Maybe it was caught between my ribs and arm
Or just wild bent on cancelling the night
 
Precisely at the moment that I was letting go
Of the worries on the beach and considering
Straight ahead of me, in the far distance:
Gaza, caught between the Army and Hamas
That’s when the thing swam up to strike       
          
I could not solve the war of the eastern shore
Instead, a little agony in my side
And a new way of thinking about the tide
How perilous the calm, reliable waves
How painful the fusillade of stings they bear