Now there was a place in Shemlon
      where the daughters of the Lamanites
      did gather themselves together
      to sing and dance
      and to make themselves merry.
 
      And now the priests of king Noah
      laid and watched them;
      and they came forth
      out of their secret places
      and took them and carried them
      into the wilderness as their wives.

          ― As Retold by Mormon

Shemlon’s shore
an embroidered skirt
of dimpled moonlight
 
Shimmering lakeside
upon a taffeta breeze
carried inland from the sea
 
Daughters dancing
among water lilies bathed
in future’s innocence
 
When, from hidden nests,
priests emerge to force their hands
with premeditated fervor
 
Swapping silk for sackcloth―
silencing the music
and stilling the waters
 
     at Shemlon’s shore.