The Albatross


hollow as a fish, clamoring
against her whale bones.
(hearing them nightly as they
line the streets in a procession:
coming home;weather-worn
and wrought in their linen-lined congestion)
bones one after another bones
gawking in their barracks
coming to the albatross
brave and maudlin as sisters
whose laughs abide a simple rule:
love and you'll be forgiven.