For Aurélie

Stay your course, now do not trim

Your sails to reach me drifting

I want neither warmth nor rescue

From the autumn waves’ crashing

–

But to know the great and empty cold

Of the sea seeping through my body

To look upon the final visage of

Heaven and water’s wedded unity

–

For my bridal suit is yellowing

In a chest of cedar, miles away

With flowers from my darling fair

Pressed and preserved against decay

–

I want neither warmth nor rescue

I have chosen the coffin of the sea

For there is no precious Aurélie

Waiting in the window for me

© 2012 Elizabeth Cook