Don't do those little things
You always do to me; you know
That look, that half-smile, with the closing eyelids
The hint of a smirk, the tilt of the head.

It's unfair, I've got only eyes and ears
Full of you, and you have the whole universe
Of well conceived temptations, to lure me in,
Open-mouthed fish that I am, to be baited by your sly styles.

You offer all the desirable things a woman could lust for,
Lust and never be satisfied, forever in the understanding
That you surely have other smiles and other poses, for other women
In unknown eras, different climates and panoramas.

I can only try to hold onto the parts of you I know,
Recognize it is futile trying to capture all the invisible things
Though doubtless they are all there,
Just beneath your fleeting expressions.

And you are all sophisticate
And I am all trembling schoolgirl
Having forgotten the things I once took for granted.

Now look at me again, this time with a blank look
And let me see it slowly fill in, with the essence of you,
So slowly that I can see every year, wrinkle of growth,
Every change and sign of maturing, like a tree's rings.

I want to know all your weathers,
Want to let the rainbow fill up with your humors;
The world swell shut or empty out on your whim.

I want to be made pregnant
Entirely with the incredible idea of you're existing;
Because the real ecstasy of knowing you, is one that I can almost-
But not quite- touch.

The mermaid was dead, of that they were sure
They carried her out, to the green pastures

They buried her deep, and there left a cross
Near which, the bereft waves were tossed.

And the moon crept high, and the tide moved slow,
And a low and murmuring cry did blow:

At first was faint and seemed far away,
Yet soon was audible through the bay.

It sounded like wind, had lost it's way;
It sounded like something, that once was gay

Something whose soul, was shattered apart:
Something was hunting it's broken heart.

It frightened children in their beds,
Whispered inaudible words, in men's heads.

It revealed it's presence, with two green lights
Reflective and deep, like the mermaid's eyes.

Around the lighthouse, the green lights glimmered
And often neath the water, shimmered;

Wherever the Captain happened to be,
Twas sure, the lights would there roam free.

The Captain never said one way or other,
If he thought it She; herself, in the Ether.

And when on his deathbed, the Captain lay,
Beside his window, the two lights stayed

Keeping a watch, on his mortal frame,
Till his breathing life had waned.

And the midnight that he breathed his last,
And all his earthly torments passed,

People swore of the strangest thing:
At quarter past two, heard a ship's bell ring,

And saw two shadows, one tall and thin,
And one swam in the water, leading one in,

Hand in hand, till they both submerged;
It's rumored now, that the Captain's Lord

Of the undersea; the whole blue ocean,
Because of one mermaids deathless devotion.

The lighthouse keeper and his son, one day
Were out on the rocks, by a blue-water bay

As the sea, their bare feet was laving,
They saw a mermaid, they first thought was bathing;

With long dark hair and eyes of green;
Like the mist of a loch, that sings.

She was struggling and sick, in the foamy sea
So they took her to the lighthouse, above the lea.

She begged and pleaded, to die in the sea;
But there in the lighthouse, she seemed fated to be.

A clawfoot bathtub  became her home,
And there she stayed, never to roam.

Some children taught her some words and rhymes.
To help her to pass all the weary time.

The lighthouse keeper thought she was his own,
Though from the sea, she was merely loaned.

Sometimes a midnight, would find him there
Combing her damp and tangled hair.

In her long confinement, he was the one
Kept her sane, since she could not run.

They had long discussions until daybreak,
Entirely by looks and gestures they'd make;

She taught him secrets no man had ever heard;
How she could still the sea, with inaudible word

And how she could tell by the look of the moon
If spring would come early, or winter too soon.

And how the waves, did murmur below
If the weather be rough, or the hard winds blow.

How she'd loved and lost one merman that
Had gotten too close, to a fisherman's net.

They'd had a child, by the madman's reef;
Was eaten by sharks, and how they'd grieved.

He fancied that someday, he'd like a kiss,
For kissing a mermaid, seemed like rare bliss

But something forebade him, to come that near;
So he was content, just stroking her hair.

One day he found her, dead in her tub;
Her heart had broken, all for his love.

No mermaid can tell human men of her heart,
Or else they'll spend their lives far apart,

It's a law of the sea, older than time;
So this be the end, of the mermaid rhyme.

Drowned piano, plunging through the depths,
Bubbling out its dark mahogany breaths;
Drowned piano, songs played by the tide
And the harp strings shivering inside.

Drowned piano, the sea's become your hymn,
All about you schools of fishes swim;
Upon your legs, the coral will make a home,
And clams will envy your keys of whiter bone.

Drowned piano, answers a mermaid's prayer;
Startles sea-urchins, with a sight so rare;
Drowned piano, so many miles from shore-
Beloved fingers caress you never more.

The sun will rise again
Like unintended consequence,
And arrive empty of expectation

Alien suns will navigate,
Like my heart searches for you
The frontier of the unsuspected

Please kiss me once more with light
You the everything, I the nothing
And distant stars will show the path;
In this world, all is connected.

If someday on a stone you read
My name, by a dying flower
Please find one memory to cherish
Some hope, for a dreadful hour.

Wreathe it in an ivy circlet,
With the wisp of a silky ribbon;
We'll make of the bare bones of love
A feast, whether taken or given.

Fly far, unclouded soul,
Heaven's newest fervent flower;
Fly to ****** waters, fast or slow
For how can it matter
Once freed of all earth's denials
For you no boundaries, no time;
Limits are for living lives,
But you are the unfettered firmament
Behind a million smiles;
You are the kite that's broken free
Of every clutching kite string;
The pink balloon bearing goodbye tears
Released from a tiny baby's grave;
Or the laughter of many years
Grown quiet; still brave
Having left behind all fears,
Now only on gods time,
Which no man knows-
Fly far, unclouded soul.