[00:12.63]All these fellows were there inside when she entered
[00:15.69]utterly naked.
[00:17.58]They΄d been drinking and began to spit at her,
[00:20.83]recently come from the river, she understood nothing.
[00:23.91]She was a mermaid who had lost her way,
[00:26.64]the taunts flowed over her glistening flesh
[00:29.03]Obscenities drenched her golden breasts.
[00:31.89]A stranger to tears, she did not weep,
[00:34.39]A stranger to clothes, she did not dress.
[00:37.24]They pocked her with cigarette ends and with burnt corks
[00:40.91]And rolled on the tavern floor in raucous laughter
[00:44.64]She did not speak, since speech was unknown to her
[00:48.45]Her eyes were the colour of far away love
[00:51.18]Her arms were matching topazes
[00:53.69]Her lips moved soundlessly in coral light
[00:57.66]And ultimately she left by that door
[01:00.68]Hardly had she entered the river than she was cleansed
[01:04.13]Gleaming once more like a white stone in the rain
[01:07.69]And without a backward look, she swam once more
[01:12.32]Swam towards nothingness, swam to her dawn.