Salt on the leaves,
Names in the rain,
The sea took the fleet
But not their names

There was a queen by the northern sea,
With a crown of pearl and bone
She stood before her people dry-eyed,
Hard as harbor stone

No tear for famine, no tear for war,
No tear at the funeral bell
She kept her grief behind her teeth
Where no living soul could tell

“If she can stand, then we can stand,”
The widows used to say
Yet no one saw the salt she saved
For a darker, deeper day

Then came the storm with a blackened mouth,
Then came the broken mast
Then came the gulls without a cry,
And no ships sailing past

O Queen of Salt Rain,
Read the names to the sea
Let the drowned hear the crown
Bend down on its knee

O Queen of Salt Rain,
No throne commands the tide
Where do queens go to break
When all their ships have died?

The fleet had sailed with lanterns high,
With banners red and blue
With sons of fishers, sons of lords,
And boys the baker knew

The queen came down at midnight tide,
No guards beside her feet
She carried every sailor’s name
On linen, white and neat

She climbed the hill to Lachryma
While thunder broke the bay
And read them one by one aloud
So none could wash away

At the name of the youngest boy,
Her guarded heart broke fast
And all the tears of seven years
Fell hotter than the blast

O Queen of Salt Rain,
Read the names to the sea
Let the drowned hear the crown
Bend down on its knee

O Queen of Salt Rain,
No throne commands the tide
Where do queens go to break
When all their ships have died?

Name by name,
Wave by wave,
Not all lost things
Find a grave

Name by name,
Keel and chain,
The tree drinks sorrow
And blooms in rain

By dawn, the leaves of Lachryma
Were jeweled bright with brine
Each vein was rimmed with crystal salt,
Each edge with silver shine

She gathered one leaf only,
Not for crown or throne
But for the first widow at the harbor,
Waiting there alone

When the widow touched it,
She tasted storm and sea
The name of the man she loved,
And the queen’s grief equally

That was the miracle:
Not safety
Not return

But sorrow shared without shame

Since then, before the fishing boats
Set out beyond the bay
A salted leaf from Lachryma
Is tied where ropes give way

For not all charms prevent the storm,
But some remember dead
And every wave that reaches it
Must pass through every name instead

When night grows black with rain,
And stars refuse to burn
The salt leaf shines a little blue
To guide the vessel’s turn

O Queen of Salt Rain,
Lift the leaf to the mast
Let the lost sail beside us
Till the black waves pass

O Queen of Salt Rain,
Let the salt crystals gleam
For the drowned are not sleeping
Where nobody dreams

If the sea must hunger,
If the sky must thunder,
Let the names be brighter than foam

O Queen of Salt Rain,
Lead the broken ships home

Salt on the leaves,
Names in the rain,
The sea took the fleet
But not their names

The queen who never wept
Still weeps in sailors’ light