Leukothea's Odyssey 6

by Sonya Taaffe


Slender as a palm tree, a thirsting drink
for sailors, the arrow-fingered crescing
that bends the tides — to your father, mother,
brothers a blessing, but three times again to
that woman who will come to you from the sea,
white-armed, salt-wreathed, bearing in her mouth
the pearl that only your lips may steal or share,
no longer a tear, the bride-gift left behind
on the shores of Scheria, when she leads you home.



Sonya Taaffe

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