A Ballad to Saving the Selkies

The marine biologists of Scotland

spend each and every day

tagging seals, cleaning the sea

and keeping poachers at bay.

But they’re really helping selkie folk.

To them, tags are wedding rings

and sealskins moved to labs

are proposals for marrying.

But unlike the days of Celts,

when these bare women find the men

they turn away and run

instead of taking them to their dens.

But with more strange ladies appearing

these exasperated scientists gave in

letting the lasses follow them around

as they study those odd sealskins.