These seas teem with mythologies,
sunk legends, terrors, whales of tales:
Poseidon in his chariot,
mermaids, serpents, siren song,
Atlantis hidden in the deep,
the Hydra and its many heads,
Leviathan, the water sprites,
wide Oceanus round the world,
or Proteus shapeshifting there
past Flying Dutchman’s phantom sails,
the Kraken rising, fabled fiends
enfolded in medieval maps,
explorers’ lore and captains’ logs,
the yarn of anglers, mariners,
with pirates, poets, artists, all
who fancy dragons in the waves,
Calypso’s island in the mist,
Odysseus returning home,
old Noah’s ark, or Gilgamesh,
the Argonauts in search of fleece,
and Ahab thrashing one last time,
or Neptune’s trident in this tide
awash with dolphins, squids and pearls,
dead anchors dropped from ghostly ships,
the prayers of those who walked the plank,
gold coins beneath the undertow,
which lures romancers from a shore
to wade in wonders, thirst for more.
