excerpt from 'mermaid' by Dawn Lim

0

tonight a flood of rain

eliminates

the spaces of the earth

waterland; only the clouds

form its barriers

a breeze steers the leaf

of a boat like a free-

floating

compass

a fisherman

pulls in the sea with both arms,

and keeps it in a basket

to tame. he dreams

of teaching it to travel by air.

[…]

100

if there are no salt rivers, there will still be rain.

if there is no rain, there will still be the humidity.

if there is no humidity, there will still be tears for remembrance.

if eyes do not speak, there will still be my lips, upturned, broken bird.

if lips do not speak, then their silence will.

if silence will not, then memory will.

if memory will not, then absence will, reminding us

of how lightly we brushed our lips away from our pasts.

Dawn Lim was a winner in the Foyle Young Poets Awards 2004.