The Sea Nymphs

Cascading waves of blue surf

drink hungrily on the beach,

as the tide rolls in,

over bone-white bodies—

nude,

in the sun-dappled foam.

***

"What is the body?"

asked the Buddha.

"It is but the foam

of a wave."

***

In the dawn tide, they dance—

pale sticks of wood

glued askance.

***

I recline beneath

crumbling stone arches,

a potentate of unreason.

***

She comes to me,

unbridled, burnished,

yellow and white

over her smooth silk chest.

Her neck telescopes upward.

***

She takes my hand.

We go—beyond—

into the recesses

of this palace of wonder and pain.

***

A summation of the moment

seems pregnant,

poised on the edge of darkness,

simply waiting.

***

And the naked bodies dance onward,

their feet feeling pebbles and shell

beneath the broken tide.

My book of poetry: MOLOTOV: Poems by Tom Baker

Connect with me on Facebook