Slippage

The teasing waves have ebbed again.

From under me I feel the sand

Sucked to sate the fickle tide.

The warm foam rushes, heedless, by

My yearning, empty, seeking hands.

The throbbing heat between my thighs

Is lapped away; the salty breeze

Is frigid on my sodden skin:

The mermaid I would once have been

Beached beneath a barren Moon.

I wait and dream the time when She

Who rules the dweller of these dunes

Will turn her face, bring him to me--

When next the sea my flesh surrounds,

I'll breathe him in, or I will drown.