i.

my beauty, a green-haired, green-
breasted mermaid, goes diving
at night, for him

the younger i become
the more my body needs him
the more of me belongs to him

as a girl, i carried a memory
of breathing (in

and out
and dying, for him
and out

and down) into the fear, i carry
my memory of you

cool cells makeout warm blackness
your fish glistens for the light
my listeners listen for

i float around your parts, so delicate
my cinammon-green lips
dont trust the stars


ii.

my beauty is a woman of middle-age
her body is a school of fish

and the (part), our (part)
the (part) yielding to (his) man

(was yielding to) the wondrous
(they were)(i was saying)

but i also for (all) the children
i(they) offer mind(fulness)

how not one at another of them
(selves)(it) is looking

nor even whoever is the smallest
(they were)(i was saying)

but all as at an idol (our parts)
are gazing at (him)self


//

καὶ τὸ μὲν ἡμέτερον
τὸ τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἧττον

θαυμαστὸν
ἦν

ἀλλ᾽ ἐγὼ καὶ τοῖς παισὶ
προσέσχον τὸν νοῦν

ὡς οὐδεὶς ἄλλοσ᾽
ἔβλεπεν αὐτῶν

οὐδ᾽ ὅστις σμικρότατος
ἦν

ἀλλὰ πάντες ὥσπερ ἄγαλμα
ἐθεῶντο αὐτόν

154ξ

🌒