A sky boat song

In the depths of an opal
dark shadows sway.
In the Pacific at Tathra wharf
stingrays make those shadows;
kite-shaped ocean floor grazers

they glide between pilings,
barbed tails waving
in chthonic rhythmic
underwaterworld sway,

black wings undulating;
around the edges
ruffles peak and dip,
glimpses of pale underskirt
petticoats.

I wonder if they noticed yesterday
when three bodies plummeted
into their sky,
splashed and struggled
for a while then
quietened

and floating there beside them
like Ra’s sky boat
a suddenly redundant pram. 

View this poem on The Disappearing »