tHank gOd iT's fAtal - and tell us all about it

Oh to be locked up in that shell!
Stiff muscles and stomache cramps;
curled around a black pearl,
strewn with disapproving remarks in Greek
from voices erudite and elite.

How long it took me to break free;
to raise myself from foamy sea;
to stand, bear flesh and head held down
with seaweed hair, and yet, not drowned.

Just branded-

but no longer bound.