THOUGHTS OF A POET IN THE RAIN

HER NAME WAS SAUCY MISS MERRY FAIR

(Another poem from the book RABBIT IN A BOX)

Her name was Saucy Miss Merry Fair

And she rose up proudly from the sea and said she lived there.

She told me she was from down Kensington Way

And thought this a new place she might could stay

I told her she needed to brush the seaweed from her hair,

Though it was very well placed, from what I could see;

But—else others, not me of course, might rudely stare

And would not believe she actually belonged there

Among we who common folk were said to be.

And she advised she could drop the weed back in the sea,

Where it would change to children born so long by she.

“A good place to plant my feet, though webbed they are you can plainly see.”

“Time to move on,” she suddenly said, “how about a warm cup of tea?”

I advised of a place down the lane where neighbors went

At odd times of day to sit, sip and eat a bit, and sometimes vent

Their feelings of government and prices of this and that and gaze out on the

sea.

That suited her, she said, and took my hand and led

And we sat and drank a cup of tea, and with a cookie each was fed

While neighbors gawked at this beauty who had come up to meet me from

the sea

And who chose to sit and dine and laugh alone with me.

Six years ago the lass and I were wed

And then her children came up from the sea

To live with us and share our bread

For in love, by love, and with love they and she

Came forth from the dark ocean waters to live and stay

And she and they were from the chilly waters set firmly, finally free.