Then We Dreamed Of The Sea, Wounded With Shipwrecks Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

let us dream of the sea, wounded with shipwrecks
with sudden incursions
the mermaid froth on the jade wave
the topmost rigging sinking from the skies
or the ghost ships sailing with no surmise
dream of the curl of the last wave
etched in the wood block too late to save
dream of the jeweled coves
from which they never arose
the lost seamen
and of the indigo swells
dream of the galed noons
the drowning gold of the moons
dream of them late or soon
or too early to fortell;
oh my landlocked children,
dream of them well
tolling the evenng bells.

mary angela douglas 29 january 2022; 20 march 2023