A Song for Fog

 Captain, do not curse the fog.
 It is the lullaby of the Blackfish.
 It is the glint eddy at the wing of the Sbaqwah.
 God-blue, long as a Black River canoe.
  
 Captain, your horn is heavy like blood in a ghost.
 What can it do? 
  
 The fog is a child squat over a snake in the longhouse. 
 It never knew you.
 It does not hear you.
  
 The osprey tear herring over a broken cedar.
 The salmon scowl at the ladder and die.
  
 Your boats are wrapped in ancient names.
 Kittitas and Chimacum. 
 Issaquah and Wenatchee.
 Only the words are quiet on the water.
  
 The engines scare an owl from the head of a bear.
 The bear scares crows from a picnic table.
 It watches you bleed cars into the hills.
  
 All head and no flukes, you pilot the ghost 
 without much rudder.
  
 You think you pilot the ghost.
  
 Captain, do not curse the fog.
 It is the white noise of the Salish Sea.
 You are the brother of the Chinook.
 You are the white throat of the Blue Heron. 
 
 Trade pilothouse for smokehouse.
 Dance the deck from wheel to wheel.
 The lullaby of the Blackfish will be your song.