right to her feet
that old improbable
message in a bottle.
She took it with her
kept it near
but did not want
to open it
to spoil the mystery
of her selection.
Resting in the garden
she dreams
starfish dreams
opens her hands
like fans of coral
feels her teeth grow
smooth as pearls.
Her bones relax
as though afloat
on a languid sea
listening for the long
deep songs of whales
sounding all the names
of water
calling to her
from the drowned
cities lost and long
forgotten
inhabited by ghosts
and the fantastic
luminescent shapes
of strange fish
glowing in the dark.
