Tales of the Sea

Wind whistled round our old house like a banshee,
bringing tales from the sea, of fishermen battling
against towering waves crashing on decks
already slippery underfoot from the scales
of fish wrenched from their sea bed, to lie gasping
their last for plates waiting safely on land.

Far beyond the breakers, over the sandbanks
rip tides await to catch the unwary, unaware
the sea claims her own rising into the wind
higher and higher, to drag down via undertow
the foolish who see no further than her beauty.