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
