Ulysses

ULYSSES 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. Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell: Ding-dong. Hark! now I hear them, ding-dong, bell. 1 Cross legged I await Heavens beams, to embrace to bundle to lash with twine drifting wood While the waves whip the beache's grace I hold the smooth forked roots in hand Roots in time can break stone and mold it like the water is able Water that feeds the root Sun that feeds the fingers I ask not much old sea Dashing dead against stones Barnacles tear at flesh and vessel low birds impale the shell to eat salty flesh Everything and nothing is water Eternal yet fleeting Comforting yet cold Supportive yet unwieldy Reflective yet transparent Hungry yet quenchless Ye oldest mare whose rising breasts swell and hungry opens cavernous to consume both breast and beam Her victims wash about my feet Ripen, swell abreast resign this earth Death who she knows best who winged I've seen who in decay keeps fertile, she who drinks endless of streams immortal I await her sea-nymphs call for me Though I alone shall not quell her endless thirst, when half submersed. Ding-dong. Hark! now I hear them, ding-dong, bell Deus pasit corvos* Tempest 1. 2 (1) God feeds the ravens* Finishing Line Press. Book FAREWELL TO THE DUST, by C. S. Leaf avalible March 2008 www.FinishingLinePress.com