The Tern

An ocean poem~

Ocean-born beneath betrayer moon
Chipped from the shell of a large-billed tern
Vagrant, crowned in tarry plumes
Far from the storied Paphos rock

In grey whale skin and on bare feet
With eyes like twin abysses, black
She calls me ever toward the sea
Where gasping endlessness awaits

The crush of creamy foam, the smell of sand
A beauty bold and unapologetic
She takes me in her tiny hand
And leads me with pelagic promises