All Of The Pretty Things At The Bottom Of The Sea Poem by Samuel Stuart Pennell

It all happened a very long time ago....
the winter of 1846, I believe it was
Yes, that it was-the winter of 1846
I remember it well

That was the December the ocean swallowed my fair Mindy O'Casey
The December-ocean was cold and unforgiving

That was the winter
I would never be the same

She was my barefoot sunshine goddess, not yet 22, whom I had chosen for marriage.
On a maiden voyage to Ireland, she was.

A return home, to Wexford, returning home to seek a father's blessing.
A return home, to rescue a brother from the poor house.
The crystalline sea lay in wait for her, however.
The god-blue, god-black ocean.
The glittering ocean was waiting, deceitfully, like a serpent.

The HMS Neptune swam across the sea, with mighty sails billowing in the wind.
But hubris was to cut this mighty Titan down.

A lantern kicked over, and fiery oil spreading upon the deck. Now floor, now sails, now cotton bales ablaze!

Holy God!
A fire! A fire!
A fire at sea!
A horrific panic on board!

Frantic action, and cries to sweet Jesus, but nothing could be done.
All the souls onboard were vanquished by fire and ocean, and all souls were lost.
The physics of fire and wood conquered their pleas.
Their faces were frozen in terror, as they slowly drifted to the bottom of the sea.

The beautiful 'Neptune' sank to its fiery grave.

Now my Mindy floats in the waves, that are crystal blue crystal black.
She is suspended in the waves, looking upwards.

Now she is an angel,
a frozen fairy, that lives at the bottom of the ocean.
She is frozen in the waves, suspended like an angel,
There, she waits for me to join her.
We will be together again one day, in civilizations unseen at the bottom of the sea.
In my mind, she lives under the ocean.

All the rest upon board perished.
As it is known, people cannot live underwater;
However, I believe Mindy to be a the exception.

She's waiting there for me (I know she is) .
And one day I will return, to free her from
the Poseidon-wrath that conquered her.

I will drive a harpoon into the heart of the ocean-god, I will catch my fair Mindy, like a wriggling fish, and raise her up once again.

Now, my Mindy is one of the pretty things at the bottom of the sea.
Like the litter of the Neptune.
Like the trinkets, the locks, the pictures, the gemstones, all of which gently sway back and forth on the ocean floor in silence.

I will use black magic to summon her spirit.
In dark séances, in back rooms, I see her face in the mirror.
She is there, I know it.

Abracadabra! In a poof of smoke, she will arise!

Mindy fly far,
Mindy fly near,
let everything die,
and let Mindy appear!