A Poem a Day (631): NaPoWriMo Day 4 - The land of singing fish

 
NaPoWriMo Day 4 
 
Prompt: write a poem where you take your title or some language/ideas from The Strangest Things in the World. First published in 1958, the book gives shortish descriptions of odd natural phenomena. Perhaps you will be inspired by the ‘The Self-Perpetuating Sponge’ or ‘The World’s Biggest Sneeze’.
 www.napowrimo.net

 
The land of singing fish
 
On the tropical Batticaloa beaches of eastern Sri Lanka
you may hear a distant song, imagine its fine origin,
in the gleam of the moonlight lead a merry dance,
chance upon the tide turning out, over and about,
put one ear to a conch shell to find the source of it,
and look to the horizon for the sacred sirens of the sea.
 
In wartime, the navy oft times navigated the opposite way,
their sonar waves misdirected by the endless chitter-chatter
of the singing fish bathing in glorious bioluminescence.
It may be a song for supper or just idle merry-making,
or describing the quickest route to the next coral reef,
but visitors come on back in their droves just to listen.
 
In only one lagoon, so deep you might not find the bottom,
the fair moon’s ardent beams emit an enticing, seductive lure,
love letters on an invisible chain when the night is so full-calm.
You’ll hear a chocolate fish make a twilight call, the echo of
a firecracker, deep within, so far down it spills like tinsel trembling,
while soft & light, sweet & tinkling, erupts the song of the scaleless fish.
 
Copyright Vickie Johnstone, April 4, 2024