When I was young, I lived with my mother by the coast

Right outside our door, there was a path that led off the cliff 

The townsfolk whispered as we walked in the market, and I did not understand why

Once a rotten vegetable and the words “Ocean wh*re” hit my mother, I understood then.

I now noticed the little things, how my mother bound the shutters when night fell

How water splashed along the coast

The sound of shoes on a path coming from the cliff

The scars of claws along the side of the house

One day, My mother warned me not to go to the sea, how the undertow would sweep me away.

Of course, such a challenge enticed my young mind

I learned the way of the sail, catching fish as my mother watched in fear

And so I grew, with the sea and the waves, the coral became my sister, the kelp my brother

The undertow watched, with golden eyes and claws ready to catch, but I did not waver

Then, the monsters came.

Lo in the clothes of the town, armed with jaws of pitchforks and breath of flames

My mother they took first, kicking and screaming as they dragged her to shore

I watched from the cliff, as they covered her with iron even as it burned her skin

And in the bloodied water, I saw my fate

The ocean's surface was like stone, and then I knew everything

Yellow eyes looked at me, smile encased in ivory blades

And once more I fell into the waves, yellow eyes now my gaze

My mother swam up to meet me, her scales identical to mine

She kissed my forehead once, then swam into the sky

I swept through the town, bringing no destruction but my own

Now I visit my mother only when the tide ebbs and flows

I often visit, when the waters are hot, with my winds and twisters of blue

The coral is my sister, the kelp my brother, bringing life and death in a cycle 

My father is the undertow, my destiny to fall into the sea

We all are called in our fury when we hear our mother bleed

With tridents and waves, tyranny spread wide and tall

The Undertow, the cliff from which we fall