Self-Portrait as Ariel from The Tempest
I have returned from the wreck, from that ship
you tossed with your tempest. The crew lay
unharmed, as you would know,
and they rest on the shore
where kaleidoscopic shells are scattered about
and where the sea slides up only to recede.
I serenaded them with my song, which,
like my essence, belongs entirely to you:
Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade…
By nature, my body belongs to the four winds,
and to them, one day, it will return.
But, for now, I am an extension of your mind,
and I attend to your bidding
as the sun comes out of hiding. The crew
has awoken and daylight spreads across
our island. I will return to my tree
until I’m to sing again.
About the Author: Alexander Lazarus Wolff is a writer of poetry and creative nonfiction. His work has been published or is forthcoming in The Best American Poetry online, The Citron Review, NDQ, Black Fox Literary Magazine, South Florida Poetry Journal, Serotonin, and elsewhere. He was awarded first place in the Poetry Society of Virginia’s Undergraduate Award. He is a poetry editor for The Plentitudes and is an undergraduate at the College of William and Mary. You can find him and more of his work on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wolffalex108/ on Instagram: @wolffalex108 and at www.alexanderlazaruswolff.com
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Image Credit: Mary Hoare “Ferdinand and Ariel” (1781) Public Domain image courtesy of Artvee
As It Ought To Be 