(and of you and me)
once by the shore of telephone wires
she called, and he answered
( the destined empress met the future king )
while waves licked gently the shoreside fires
and sparked.
they talked with thoughts and smiles
( while teaspoons fell from children’s lips )
and avoided words
because, they thought, the child could not speak.
she came to him
with her entourage of bow-tied birds
and gently kissed him by the shore
( where willows sing and whisper in the wind ).
photobooks of bowing bow-tied birds
watched them whispering in the aisles
( and here they opened up and found )
one island where the penguins lived
and they touched their fingertips
( like long leaves of willows that sing and whisper in the wind )
in anointment of the coming reign:
“you are queen” and “you are king”
( while silent all the while )
of this South Georgia Isle.
then of their king and queen the penguins knew
and flew from the photopages home
( to spread the word of a kingdom )
and told their chicks the beauty of their queen
whose head was crowned with a green south-georgian flower;
and so the bow-tied birds of dull-brown earth
came to their king and queen
and bowed their bows for a prosperous reign
( and to them she sang like a willow whispering in the wind ).
queen and king then told the empires
of who they were and of their entourage of penguins
and the empires laughed at the bow-tied birds
( who flapped their black thin wings in joy )
and laid a feast for them.
then among the chatter of sun-brewed tea
( and lattes for the cold-bred birds )
a despot of the roman rule
and monarchs with their northern bears
offered a continent to king and queen
( whose brown blue eyes locked and lit )
with seaside southern cliffs
and then gave to the queen and king Antarctica
( thus beginning an empire ).
the penguins flapped their black thin wings in joy
and met their brothers by the southern seas
and swam and flew with silent ecstasies
( like willows that sing and whisper in the wind )
and lifted their emperor and empress across the waves
to the palace on seaside cliffs
( where icicle towers pierced high the sky ).
among slow rolling glaciers and subliming water
( where changing liquid does not flow )
the emperor and his empress
walked along the cliffs
and surveyed their empire with loving eyes
( while penguins danced beside )
and they knitted stories for the bow-tied birds
until the sun-rays soaked them for a day
and the penguins left the land to fly.
and he came to her
while clouds bristled white above blue seas
and gently kissed her by the shore
( and they smiled like willows that sing and whisper in the wind )
because, they thought, this was home.