Solanna would take them all down to the seashore,
walking a little ahead of them always.
At the shore, she would stand all day, looking out to sea.
Sometimes, she would let out a piercing cry
and the children would cover their ears.
They didn't know that far out under the waves,
Solanna could see the dark shape of her mother
and was calling to her in the scraps of seal language she still remembered.