Eight Bells

Full fathom five thy father lies
Of his bones are coral made:
Those are pearls that were his eyes,
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich, and strange. 
    Wm. Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act 1

Eight Bells

Deep at the bottom of the sea
an ancient soul hears the moaning 
of a dying whale, an old singer
of the deep.  And deeper still
lay the soul’s faded possessions, 
it’s nearly forgotten memory. 
At the bottom of the sea,
where ‘twas born and returned
six eternities in time,
womb of earth, sung down five 
full fathoms. “I am old,” 
echoes the liquid space.

Breathe deeply, aye, thy pearls,
the sea changes wide. 

Copyright © 2005, 2014 by David Larstein, all rights reserved.

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