Tiny Purple Fishes Swim Laughing

You thought the leaden winter
Would bring you down forever
So you rode upon a steamer
To the violence of the sun . . .

The colors of the sea
Blind your eyes like trembling mermaids
You touch those distant beaches
With their tales of brave Ulysses
How his naked ears were tortured
By Sirens sweetly singing
Now sparkling waves are calling you
To kiss their white-laced lips . . .

You see a girl’s brown body
Dancing through the turquoise
Her footsteps make you follow
Where the sky loves the sea
When your fingers find her
She drowns you in her body
Carving deep blue ripples
In the tissues of your mind . . .

Tiny purple fishes
Swim laughing through your fingers
She wants to take you with her
To the heartland of the winter . . .

Her name is Aphrodite
She rides a crimson shell
You fear you cannot leave her
For you touched those distant sands
With their tales of brave Ulysses
How his naked ears were tortured
By Sirens sweetly singing . . .

Tiny purple fishes
Swim laughing through your fingers
She wants to take you with her
To the heartland of the winter . . .