spirit fish

the spirit fish swim in the sky

some say they are the souls of drowned sailors

stomachs storm gutted on black rocks

their empty Cornish cottages let to Londoners

they fly in great shoals of grey clouds

scales glistening like a million deep sea stars

but you’ll never catch these moving rainbows

rising from the depths each time a ship is lost

born inside bubbles gurgling up gagging throats

out the gaping mouths silently screaming final breaths

a sailor’s last meal reincarnated as messenger

Neptune and Poseidon’s caves forever abandoned

from watery depths through spuming crests

the lust for the seafaring life of adventure

now turned to eternal heavenly wandering

and on a clear day you might spot them

the spirit fish that swim in the sky