And the sea called me
My feet have been dry for too long
It comes to me in dreams
It claims me back as a birthright
“The princess of the sea,”
He crowned me.
At war with the sea,
At peace with the concrete that I once despised
While the waters were everything to him,
The sea took everything from me
At dawn we’d prepare for the catch
To bring fresh sustenance from it
At dusk we’d return to our wooden castle
Our time spent together was a cherished treasure
This joyous nightly feast
A wooden crooked table for two,
A fresh catch of fish, a royal meal.
That cursed morning I decided to stay,
As I played by the shore building sand castles
To be soon washed away by the cruel waters
I laid and awaited to meet him ashore
He broke his traditional return
As the light grew dim, so did my hope
Tearful, fearful, unsure
The king of the sea betrayed by his tides
I ran through the sand until I met the stony road
I was the princess of the sea, that was once.
My virgin feet used to walk naked on sand
Now, a peasant away from the coast
My feet corrupted by daily soles
The waters called me every night
As the shore sang its mermaid’s lullaby
Until it victoriously summoned me back to it
But now with wrinkles around my eyes,
And a few silver hairs on my head
I break down as the sea embraces my feet
I let the sand immerse my bare soul
It soaks my aged mourning
It returns the crown to my stormy hair
I inhale the smell of tropics that brush me by
A stream of memories of my neglected castle
Who am I?
My doubts are washed away by my birth land’s passing waters
My father whispers through the breeze,
“The princess of the sea”
This island seems strange
but it must be me who has changed
For so long a lost foreigner in crowded streets,
By the waters is where I have to be
Authors
Camille Osorio Zuniga and Jamison Bond.
© Camille Osorio Zuniga and Jamison Bond and Fiesta de Letras, 2019. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Camille Osorio Zuniga and Jamison Bond and Fiesta de Letras with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.
Bello y nostálgico
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