Penelope

Love has many faces...many guises.

Nature has many hidden secrets and places.

Penelope rode the Swift Shadow

out of Chesapeake harbor, great sails

catching hands full of wind and pitching

them into the gleaming sheets - sending

the Shadow flying across the water.

She was not happy, even at the thunder

the voyage put in her heart.

At a far harbor awaited a man who had

petitioned her father for her hand in wedlock.

A painting of the proposed groom had been sent.

Penelope’s father was pleased, but she saw

in the muted colors, a pale, vapid appearing youth

with slightly crossed eyes - she wept in her room.

For three days the mighty sailing ship ate up miles

of sameness...blue water with no land in sight.

On the fourth day a fierce storm kicked up the waters.

The ship swayed and mightily fought to keep its keel.

But at last the sea won the battle and threw the ship

to its secret deeps, where bodies were held down

by watery hands.

Penelope found her heavy skirts pinning her

beneath the insistent waves - she knew she would drown.

Suddenly hands grabbed her, held her close and lips

closed on hers...giving her sweet breath to sustain.

When she opened her eyes she was in a cave where

a man...creature... stood before her.

He was not of the earth, but of the deepest sea.

A scream echoed from Penelope’s lips through

the cavernous space.

Touching her gently he told her his name was Sir Brine,

prince of his father Neptune’s kingdom...

And so, in the fullness of time, Penelope became a bride,

resplendent in sea foam and pearls...deeply in love with

the man who had rescued her from the sea - and her other fate.