The Tattooed Boy

It is said there was a moment
in the dock,
when her back was up against it,
she pointed the finger at him
to save her own, thieving skin.

O my mother

And it was he who wore the manacles
to Van Dieman’s land

O my mother

On the ship, on his fifteenth birthday,
he had these words
tattooed on his skin:

O my mother

He learned that the heart,
like his captain’s lute
was only hollow wood and string,
yet was somehow filled
with the music that it made.

O my mother

The words inflecting light
or dark upon the strings,
depending on the touch

O my mother

Music in the lute
heart in the body
body in the earth