If the ocean had taken me
I would have become a Siren
I would have found a rock
To pull myself up upon
To wrap my mermaid tail around
I would have begun to sing
In the lowered voices of frogs
Those hearing me would first
Laugh behind their hands
Until their ears grew to
Wrap around my words
I would have spun stories
About seagulls and sandpipers
All sorts of skittering things
With claws and antennae
With scales and mud in their crevices.
When their laughter turned to listening,
They would gather near and anchor
To hear me spin Scheherazade's tales
About the sea
And none of us would ever die again.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem