![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/unnamed-300x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
She is sister to all
\ncitizens of the sea.
\nShe has kept the selchies\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 secrets,
\ndanced with them at moonrise,
\ncarpet of discarded pelts
\nbeneath her feet.
\nThe mermaids permit her earthbound voice
\nto join their chorus;
\nalthough she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s neither terrible nor tragic,
\nher songs still taste of salt.
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\nShe travels each day
\nto hear the holy rock struck
\nlike a drum by ocean\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s swells,
\nher own heart hammering
\nanswer near as loud.
\nThis is prayer and preparation.
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\nThe last of her kind to have the gift,
\nthe last whose knowing fingers
\nharvest and weave,
\nshe must wait
\ntill infant granddaughter grows
\nbefore she can pass on the ancient craft;
\nher only child, a son, lacks
\nblood\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s inheritance
\nor woman\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s patience.
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\nNo mollusk delivers up its thread to her.
\nByssus cloth, shimmering with memories of nacre,
\nnever sold but saved for special gifts of love,
\nis far less precious than her work.
\nHers is true sea-silk,
\nwoven from wave and wind.
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\nIt needs no lemon-juice to coax its gold.
\nHer silk catches the glint of sun,
\nstar-silver, moon-shadow,
\nthe undergleam of deeps shaded
\nby coral forests
\nand the dreams of whales.
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\nWoven into armor,
\nits shark-strong links
\nmake the warrior invincible.
\nSuppleness learned from
\nthe dance of kelp beneath the waves,
\nits robes grant undine-gracefulness
\nto any wearer.
\nA sail of her stuff,
\nso fine it may fold into a tea-cup,
\nwill carry your ship
\nthrough all the seven worlds.
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u201dThat is, for those few
\nwho win the wave-weaver\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s favor,
\nconvince her of a righteous cause.\u00e2\u20ac\u201d
\n\u00c2\u00a0
\nBut for herself,
\nshe sometimes knits a net
\nand, passing the pearl-laden oysters by,
\ntrawls the waters for the tales
\nthe sea tells no one but itself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
She is sister to all citizens of the sea. She has kept the selchies\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 secrets, danced with them at moonrise, carpet of discarded pelts beneath her feet. The mermaids permit her earthbound voice to join their chorus; although she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s neither terrible nor tragic, her songs still taste of salt. \u00c2\u00a0 She travels each day to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poem"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1641"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1641\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1650,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1641\/revisions\/1650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.polutexni.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}