lovely spirit
now i ask you
how long?
sea shell eyes
and pearly hair
your lagoon
fills with the incessant tide
a child went missing long ago
where is she?
“she lies at the bottom of my pool
but she is not dead
she dreams of whales and
great leathery green turtles
and sea serpents coil about her
in the cold dark depths”
lovely spirit
give this child up to the open sky
spirit
show us mortals your mercy
“but never i say!
the child is at lovely peace
and she wanders a greater world
eels light her way
and flying fish and salmon eyes”
we who keep the vigil on these forsaken shores
we who toil on the mountainous ocean
and dredge its depths
we who sing the elegy
we ask you one more time
give us back the child
” no no no
oh you should see her
her sandy hair waving in the water
her hands weave to and fro
her little toes are nibbled by tiny fishes
and her coronet is of coral
as the light makes its long way down
where shipwrecks snore
and the sharks impatiently swim
where un-named things are
silent green cold things
mouth that drinks rivers dry
black eyes shining in the blackness
a thing that feeds on giant squid and killer whales
down there
where you never thought
and now the child
keeps the monster pleasant company
whose heart
your mournful song
can never reach”