Figure B2 SPINDRIFT

In daylight, now, see breakers crash and hiss,

They bring ambiguous gifts, long afloat:

This fetid mass, the precious AMBERGRIS,

Or refuse from the galley of a boat?

An emerald, fit for a prince’s throat,

Or weathered fragment of a flask of ale?

A totem, black and hornéd like a goat,

Or casing in which infant sharks set sail?

Art and nature blend as mermaid’s top and tail.