Lyric IX
Juan Eugenio Ramirez

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It begins with simple obeisance
an offering of shells an oil lamp lit

on a dock where seagulls arbitrate
scavenging rights amongst themselves

unlash a certain commandment
girls will stay youthful despite having loved

on boardwalk ambles early afternoons
children come into contact with an absurd

patchwork of adults who call to them
off-shore the way rain throughout the night

drips languor into sailors’ ears bearing wrecks
splintered the moment they’re plucked wet

from mother sacks by bony hands too
fragile to provide enough warmth