Jay Basu
I am the fisherman out on netting my catches
I row up the crests of the waves high and low
till I’m in the high seas where dwell mermaids
and now beruffled by a gale
I am the fisherman still rowing
to the distant and misty sky
I live there with the mermaids
singing and languishing for
love that will wash them off
their unspoilt virgin purity
the love and the dream
that are borne inside me
are taken over by the sea
to be given away to the singing mermaids
who are swimming happily with their tailfin
when the roaring waves calm to level brine
and I rest between rowing and the net-casting
to hear their joyous carols touched by my love
and dream borne by the waters that roll now
in gentle ripples to kiss the sky and now in
in plucks and knocks with the shingles along the craggy shoreline of the sea
with my boatful of catches and
with the mermaids’ swan songs
ringing in my ears I still sail back
home on waters now rippling on
as the wind is down, now ruffling with
the wind up and roaring, and wheeling…
