Immortal Jellyfish, Turritopsis nutricula

The scientists are scared: your cycles repeat forever.
The only known metazoan to return completely
to sexual immaturity after reaching the medusa stage.
A feat we can only dream of: slip into our younger skin,
start again, pull a Ponce de Leon, sup from the fountain
of youth ad nauseam.
                                       No wonder they fear you,
agile bell, the size of a thumbnail, a postage stamp.
You turn back the hands of time. Skip death.
Your bright red gelatine heart, the cross
at your cusp, invisible dart. So many leagues deep,
the teeming seas, a silent invasion. 

‘Immortal Jellyfish’ © Aiko Harman.