It beguiles- 
This little Odyssey 
In ink and lavender 
Over a surface of gently- 
Graded turquoise tiles 
That represent a sea 
With chequered waves and gaily 
Bear up the seafarer, 
Gaily, gaily, 
In his pink plume and armor. 

A lantern-frail 
Gondola of paper 
Ferries the fishpond Sindbad 
Who poises his pastel spear 
Toward three pinky-purple 
Monsters which uprear 
Off the ocean-floor 
With fanged and dreadful head. 
Beware, beware 
The whale, the shark, the squid. 

But fins and scales 
Of each scrolled sea-beast 
Troll no slime, no weed. 
They are polished for the joust, 
They gleam like easter eggshells, 
Rose and amethyst. 
Ahab, fulfill your boast: 
Bring home each storied head. 
One thrust, one thrust, 
One thrust: and they are sped. 

So fables go. 
And so all children sing 
Their bathtub battles deep, 
Hazardous and long, 
But oh, sage grownups know 
Sea-dragon for sofa, fang 
For pasteboard, and siren-song 
For fever in a sleep. 
Laughing, laughing 
Of graybeards wakes us up.