a mermaid's tears (part four)...

 

"It was not, she knew, that night had come, but something as dark as night had come. No, worse than that. It had not come but it had sent that shiver through the sea to say that it was coming. What was it?"

 

(Linda Goodman)

4.

 

Another day has passed, with no sea.

 

As the sun sets, I sit and see for miles ahead of me the vast, waterless desert/shore...

 

In the disappearing sunlight, I see the gentle glitter

of thousands of pearls in dry rockpools.

 

They lie, patient, in wait for the crab to come

and collect them. A gift waiting, in

exchange for a solitary tear.

 

In the darkening sky above me now, the stars

too take on a similar pearl-like sparkle & glow.

With my fingertips, I can just make out & trace

the constellations of Cancer & Scorpio.

And I find Orion chasing Sirius...

 

This is the only way I know

I am still dreaming.

For, in my dreams

I have been blessed with perfect vision,

and I can still see the stars.

 

As the night sky turns a deep, inky blue,

I see a beautiful, full (Taurus) moon rise overhead.

It is sparkling and yellow, like a giant sky pearl.

 

It reminds me of another full moon

that once chased me in a train

(for an entire twelve hours)

from one city to another...

 

But that is another story.

 

Out of habit

(and what is it, after all,

that we do most things for?)

and perhaps years of hard-earnt expectation,

I glance down to see the moon's reflection...

 

But there is (of course) no water,

no tide to offer a mirror to lunar's face.

 

I am made up inside of so much water.

Somewhere deep inside me now,

as some sort of cruel compensaton,

I can feel my inner tides

pull and twist and churn.

 

I shiver,

as night threatens to consume me.

There is a sudden flash of lightning

on the horizon. Then another, much closer.

It lights up the barren beach.

 

Thunder, heavy and close, fills my ears,

rocks the very sand beneath me...

It makes me even more unsteady (than usual)

on these land-locked legs.

 

Rain begins to fall, light at first, then much heavier.

It catching me off guard, soaking me through.

 

Another flash of lightning. Another roll of thunder.

I can feel it in my very core and soul.

 

The moon & stars have gone.

 

I quickly run for the sanctuary & shelter

of my cabin...

 

 

 

(to be continued)

 

(c) Brent M Harpur, 2012.