
Let me tell you a tale of the worlds
*
She sat upon the jagged rocks,
The sea surged about her –
They were her allies – her closest
Friends – her sources of strength and power
*
The spray, the mist, the foam, the
Bladderwrack, the sunken submarines,
And great triumphal arches of gored
Mountain sides
*
She sat upon the rocks.
And surged along with the surge
*
II.
Let me tell you a tale of the worlds
There is the Overworld
And the Underworld
And within these two concentric circles,
All things overlap, interpenetrate, unite,
And fight, so that, from the One, comes
Two, and from the Two, comes
Many
*
III.
She sat upon the rocks,
The mist, the spray – all hers first –
She sat upon the rocks
*
She knew she would have to
Go out to sea any day now. The
Gulls in all their sky-ambling circularity
Of prophesy; every strident laugh, a
Signal of an unforgettable voyage, already
Forgotten, memorized by the sea, until it
Swallows
*
“Embark! Embark!” the winds call,
And the anchors drop. “Embark! Embark!”
Cry the clouds. They are hungry with thunder,
The sea populated with embryonic waves, that
Paint the jagged curves of Chaos’s sweet
Surface.
*
“I am Captain Eliza O’Malley,” she
Said in consideration of herself. “I am
The Greatest Stowaway of my Age. I was
Forbidden entry into this world by The Lady
Of the Lake. But, I am The Lady of the Sea!
The shipwrecks are all a-search for me,
But they will never find me.”
*
IV.
So, it is possible to be a feast
For all things:
To keep a foot in one world –
A webbed toe in another
*
Christ will wash your foot in one world,
Satan will manicure your toes with his tongue
In another;
Then they will trade places,
For they are both the same
*
V.
Eliza O’Malley was the Captain
Of her ship. She would sleep all
Night in the beak of storms – in the
Gills of stentorian leviathan, struggling
To sleep in the deeps
*
She had killed all her family,
And left them behind her,
But families are just ghosts out here,
And everybody must kill a ghost,
Before they go out to sea
*
Eliza sang her song:
*
“If those waves were ladders
That snaked downwards instead of
Upwards, how fast would I have to be
For them to appear statuesque and
Still? A typhoon is a portal – the swilling
Of seawater in Neptune’s jaws, before he
Turns off the faucet of time. I have read of The
Esquimaux – how their seafaring shamans
Would dive to the bottom of the ocean,
To brush the knots in Sedna’s locks.
*
“But who will unleash the locks
In my own hairs? Can’t you see how
Every strand interlinks with a cloud;
Every cloud interlinks with a station;
And every station interlinks with a
World? These are all just different
Frequencies, my dear. They shift and
They slide, and oil the tide, of the swift’s
Wings, in blackness, beside,
*
“So, world-strewn is my hair.
But, if braided, tressed, and spun
Out for miles, these hairs and
Fibrils would seem like nothing.
I would raise my arms up to the
Sky – the sky would lower its arms
To me – for every lass must marry
The Sky, afore she go to sea!”
*
V.
Eliza wrote this story by a lantern,
A tender flame – we call it ‘a sun’
In our universe – but it is but the reflection
From the window of a moving train in hers
*
A black shadow with blue and crimson eyes
Climbed into the galley of her ship where she
Kept her quarters:
*
“What do you do, Eliza?” he asked her.
“Is this your life: just to roam and be
Roamed?”
*
“Isn’t it everyone’s?” Eliza shouted
Back defiantly, slamming down her
Gin. “How can you escape the wanderlust
Of ages? The nautical lust to want to be
On the other side of the porthole? To
Lash yourself to the pounding heart
Of every tide? To set sail astride the stars,
And dip your feet into the udders of galaxies,
Until you are completely stranded in the isometry
Of time’s restless motions?”
*
“But you are all alone,” the shadow
Said softly. “Where are the people in
Your life? Where are you friends? Where
Are all the smiling eyes that will nestle
Kindly upon the words you’ve written
In these pages?”
*
“I AM THE SEA!” Spake Eliza.
And she said it with such power,
That no one would dare doubt her.
“You maggoty false-breed! You trifling
Piece of spume! You tornado squeezing
Out of the flatulent arse of time! How
Dare you drift into my quarters, with your
Insinuating words, and half-spun slogans,
And question my worth for the world?!
I am The Lady of the Sea!
And you would all be nothing
Without me.”
*
The shadow smiled at his case.
And disappeared once again into the dark.
*
VI.
Eliza shuddered at the shadow’s words.
She had flashbacks of late nights and drunken
Mornings; of climbing into bed with sweaty breasts,
Getting lost in the limbs of hairy men, the organic
Machinery of sex, the hidden ocean within, disembarking
On crystal caverns, of groans and moans echoing through
Coves, sea-shanties of sex, that pounce of bedsprings,
Reopening ancient treasure chests, sealed, but never
Forgotten.
*
She could remember all those things,
Because the sea never forgets –
It just goes on, remembering and
Forgetting, with the dementia and
Hypermnesia of every uncertain
Wave –
*
“Sea Log: Autumn, Winter, January,
September, 1972, 1665 – the shadows
Did not come again today. But I can still
Feel his judgement. What am I doing so
Wrong? I have never experienced anything
But affirmation before. I go out
Onto the decks, and I am applauded
By every albatross. The clouds come to
Me in fetters to beg pardon for stealing
My sunshine away. But I curse the sun!
The sea is the sun’s grave! And I will
Eat his light into my belly, as sure as
What’s made beest unmade!”
*
(But the judgement still hung heavy about her)
*
“So, you want me to go back to land, do
Ye? To seek out people? Well, I tell ye,
There be no people out there! All those
Land-lubbers are just ghosts. You can walk
Through all their cities and see nothing but
Ruins.
*
“But, out here, everything is emergent.
There are no ruins. The coral reefs are
Like ancient cathedrals, robed in sand,
Rebuilt every day by the waves’ secret
Masons.”
*
But, then back to 1772,
Jocosely addressing her pirate crew:
*
“I tell ye, boys, there be barnacles
Upon my breasts, as sure as there’s
Cockles in my larder! Let the canons
Spell out incipient destruction, and
I’ll tell you how I lay there . . .”
*
FLASHFORWARD
*
And, she still lays there like
That, thus-wise, with the bladderwrack
Rising up around her, a constriction of
Seaweed charming her into paralysis
Every night, searing her body in visions
So vivid, they would frighten the giant
Squids of the deep
*
“I tell you – I LOVE THE SEA!”
She shrilled into her writing desk.
“But, when I die, will the sea mourn
Me? Will it attend my funeral? Will
It weep for me? Or has the sea e’er
Been weeping? It is for this that it
Beest so wet?
*
“I have never known a dry moment
In my life. When you used to
Come towards me, Harry, and towel
Me down, how I used to scream! Don’t
Divest me of the last vestiges of my partner!
It was bad enough living in a house with you,
And not feeling the ground swell and rock
Beneath me, except when we were in bed,
Harry, my dear – I could really feel the
Curtains decked with spray then! Oh, to be
Alive and in your arms! And the arms of the
Sea! I could never tell you apart from the sea,
My Harry. So, when I was away, sailing, for
Months on end, for years, for centuries, it
Was as though I was sailing upon you, my
Harry, my love . . .
*
“But you land-lubbers are such ghosts!
Such ghosts, such ghosts, such ghosts!”
*
VII.
And so, sometimes we sail between two
Worlds; not knowing if we ever meet –
Maybe just a sudden chill – a flash of colour –
A trace of electric paint in the air.
*
Those are the only signals we
Might have now – no longer the
Lapping and laughing of gulls and
Sea
*
But we still love you, Eliza.
And we will bury you with
All your books and candles,
Until God finally rebuilds
The Sea