Potassium fortification, was it a nymph that lured you
to the sea? Do you still scream facetious gratitude
for your power to shake the earth, and curse your angry trident?
Strident bull, you emerge from the waves in a seahorse-
driven chariot, snorting salt-water from your sternum,
rumbling the underworld to provoke the dead. Wreaths of coral
and sapphire shatter into spray on the crests and engrave
in your head like axes, leather and chains. Do you make
the ocean tempestuous? Was it so before you became
its deity, with sharp bones piercing your translucent skin?
See the birds, fearing to dive from the navy granite cliffs
for your inscrutable creatures and your bejewelled caverns.
And your potent fingers are rivets threading together the world,
statuesque and reaching domination; from marine dome to marble sky.