Written for Paul Brookes' ekphrastic challenge - one poem a day in April 2021.
The art work for this day is by Jane Cornwell
Selkie
Smooth and sensual, softly yearning
he weaves through wave-breaks, surfs the whale-road
where the wild things meet at witching.
Mate in moonlight, bodies melding
lost and lusting, they leave the earth-life
enter night-dreams, noses brushing
Salty singing, flick through sea-hair
find their freedom, fierce in longing
burst the breakers, hot blood coursing
In the cooling, calm and careful,
gently gliding, ghosts in sea streams
silk and supple, stars their ceiling
Mourn in morning, the moon has faded
and he is gone, his heart is home-bound,
locked on land when sunlight brightens.
Come the cold-time, she climbs the sand-way
Grey and groaning, dragging grimly
Behind a bare and wind-tossed coast bush
Heavy with hunger, heaves a last time
born in blood and broken promise
Calf-cream leaks now, thick and calming
Lies with new birth, looks to land-hills
Sees a shape that seems familiar
Something's watching, wet with weeping.
Tim Fellows 2021
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