The Ballad of Black-Tide Cove (1742)

FOLK BALLAD: THE BLACK-TIDE HYMN

ORIGIN: WATERLOGGED HYMNAL // RECOVERED OFF SOLOMON ISLAND (1744)

[Salt-stained leather binding. Scrawled in iron gall ink with erratic hand-shakes.]

The well ran black in Kingsmouth town,
Before the autumn frost came down.
No bucket drew a drop of sweet,
Where oily shadows licked the street.

Oh, Father Thomas locked the nave,
And swore our simple souls to save,
But beneath the pulpit, cold and deep,
The thing without a name did weep.

The sea smells not of brine tonight, but of cold copper and scorched tallow. Brother Jonathan took his lantern to the shoreline at midnight to seek the missing schooner. He returned without his shoes, his tongue thick as tallow, humming a melody that made the church candles burn green. We buried his boots in consecrated ground, but the boots kept walking.

PARTIAL TIMELINE MAPPING:

• ~1738: Black petroleum slick reported in Kingsmouth cove; shallow wells contaminated.
• ~1740: Village blacksmith reports auditory hallucinations emanating from seabed trenches.
• October 1742: Templar Sentinel Father Thomas seals church cellar; balladeer records hymn.