Song of the Air

The dying fisherman stares at the sea 
gray as his hair, cap and clothes-
knowing the day he freed the tangled
mermaid from the kelp, and how she spoke 
of the brine and slid back  into the waves.
 
On this last day of his nothing, 
she appears- and he hides behind 
the mast so she would not see him.  

She sings a water hymn to the air, 
each note blowing back to him 
drying the kelp stuck to his feet, 
his tears, his heart, his breath, until 
all that was left-  salt mixing with water,  
continually flowing back to her.