Dialogue #6

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.