When the womb breaks at midnight beneath the midnight sun,
this mother must run 10 miles north from her sleep into the waters she came from, chanting the midnight song
for if she fails to find her scales and crown well before dawn, she must bleed the riches back to the ones who caused her creation.
So she runs now
toward the north river
to keep her riches
she must sing the midnight song
Midnight Song reads like a song! Enjoyed the internal rhyme fails/scales.
Thank you Mary!!! 🙂🙏
This looks really interesting! Well written, of course, and great use of imagery (“the midnight sun”, “find her scales and crown”, “bleed the riches back”).
If it’s alright, can you please tell me more about your inspiration behind these words? If it’s a real story, I would like to read it.
Hi Bhasha! It came to me in the moment. Being one who communicates effortlessly with nature, the poem is inspired by the water spirits and their deals in gifting daughters to the earth who must perform specific rituals to keep their blessings and beauty, lest they either lose them, or return to the waters from whence they came. Here in Nigeria, they are popularly termed “mami water” or marine spirits.