Prosperity 

A long-legged woman stands at the bow of her boat,

face warmed by rising sun. Silver streaks glint in her

light brown hair; sunbeams dance in the morning glow.

 Nimble as a dancer she slips over the side,

rising and falling in undulating waves,

she sinks into her kayak.

With a mermaid’s grace she paddles toward the

white sand beach, frosted thick with pink and purple

seashells that stretches to the brink of the world. 

She listens to the shells, so deep they tinkle like

a thousand wind chimes with each retreating wave.

 

She hunts.

She gathers.

She explores

the beach all day

fills a hand woven bag

with gifts from the sea,

until afternoon’s slant light soon warns

the setting sun will stoke the horizon a brilliant

backdrop of fiery color; and night will fall…deep... dark. 

The woman catches the first wave,

the smallest in a cycle of seven,

and smoothly paddles her kayak

toward the anchored sailboat home. 

She spreads pink and purple shells across

the bow and admires each shape and hue,

then picks just one, that calls her name,

and slips the others gently over the side

returning them to the sea.  

The woman has everything she needs.

And she knows, what she needs is, enough.

 

By Nancy Leigh Harless- Written 2006 for her life-long mermaid friend, Janet who taught me so much about living.   ~ N L Harless