MERMAID

MERMAID

Chapter The First

 

I

 

Myth of the ocean,

Nymph of the sea.

Half fish, half sprite,

Aquatic faerie.

Perfectly formed

From skin to scale,

Strangely conjoined

From flesh to tail.

Cutting through water,

Streamlined and sleek,

With powerful thrust

And perfect physique.

A swish

Through a swirl,

Diving deep

For a pearl.

From surface to seabed

In a descending spin,

Countering currents

By the flick of a fin.

 

II

 

Sea goddess

From head to hip,

Extraordinary fish

From navel to tip.

All human above

With voluptuous torso

Merged in iridescence

To the tail below.

All mother-of-pearl

And aquamarine.

A coil and a flip

Too fleet to be seen.

Rarely glimpsed

By human sight,

The mermaid swims

Too fast for light.

Preserving her myth,

Her legend intact.

Is she the fiction?

Is she the fact?

 

III

 

True apparition

Or fanciful lie?

A corner sighting

From a sailor's eye

Of a beautiful,

Fishtailed female form,

Diving through the surge

Of an oncoming storm.

A water angel

Who will save his life

By guiding the clipper

Through the broil and strife

Of an angry squall

And hurricane wind

Until the tempest abates

And the waves rescind.

Are those two blue eyes

And long golden hair

Merely a figment

Of a sailor's prayer?

 

Chapter The Second

 

I

 

I know a mermaid

Alive on dry land,

With two shapely legs

On which she can stand.

But her golden hair

And sea blue eyes

Betray her

Lower limbed disguise

As she walks her way

Upright and able,

Through her own

Human fable.

A parallel story

Of life and line

Already well known

Beneath the brine

Where the water kingdom's

Legend of old

Is a favourite yarn

Frequently told.

 

II

 

A tale that

I must now relate

To put an end

To all debate.

A narrative bound

To astonish all

Delivered to excite,

Intrigue and enthral

As cynicism melts

Into sheer delight

Where sceptic and romantic

Inadvertently unite

Under the orators

Word-woven spell.

The magic that logic

Fails to quell,

Rendering an audience

Unable to resist

The undeniable truth

That mermaids exist.

 

III

 

Once upon a mermaid

In a kingdom marine,

Far from terra firma

In the deep blue and green,

Where coral gardens

And seaweed sway

Set a scenic backdrop

For theatrical display

Of a shoal's precise

And unanimous concern

As stripe and colour

Twitch and turn

Beneath patrolling shadows

Of long-tailed doom

As rhomboid harbinger

Stingrays loom

And omen misfortune

Is but a fin's breadth delay

As danger's ever presence

Paves Calamity's way.

 

Chapter The Third

 

I

 

Unaware of Calamity's

Impending whims,

Our underwater heroine

Gaily swims

Up and down,

Along and across,

Happily ignorant

Of future loss.

The world is her oyster,

That oyster is supreme,

Its pearl of circumference

And radiance extreme.

Her prospects tremendous,

Her reputation grown

As the fastest mermaid

Ever known.

Able to swim

At a pace so bold.

Passing bronze and silver

To certain Gold.

 

II

 

But on her way

To The Great Mermaid Race

Calamity struck

And stole her place.

Before the contest

Had even begun,

Misfortune competed

And consequently won

By injecting poison

From a sea urchins spine

Into her tail

So sleek and fine.

Her perfect speed

Stopped dead in its tracks.

Her mirror to the future

Criss-crossed by cracks,

Poised to shatter

What should have been

And reflect that loss

In each smithereen.

 

III

 

Each shard embedded

In a broken dream

Unravelling to the silence

Of her internal scream

As pain explodes

Beyond threshold's scope

And the poison spreads

Dissolving all hope

To leave in its wake

An unforeseen dread

As her arms and tail

Turn to lead,

Anchoring our champion

To depths unknown

Where her heart aches

In its breaking zone

But somehow resists

That final tear

Of hopelessness

And utter despair.

 

Chapter The Fourth

 

I

 

A courageous heart beats

At a pace so bold

Passing bronze and silver

To certain gold.

Our mermaid possesses

Such a heart

Forestalling despondency

With a clear head start,

Outpacing the sea urchin's

Toxic traces,

Putting disappointments

Back in their places,

She flicks her tail

And starts to swim

Out from under

Calamity's whim.

A golden resolve

Misfortune forgot

From molten flow

To pur ingot.

 

II

 

Our heroine radiates

A love and joy

The injected contagion

Can never destroy.

She laughs, she frolics,

She jumps, she dives.

Her smile lights up

A thousand lives

As shoals turn

In her direction

And dolphins provide

Their playful protection

To an unattained spirit

The venom cannot quell

As she rides the seahorse

Or the turtle's shell

And all acknowledge

Her magical presence,

All mother-of-pearl

And iridescence.

 

III

 

While her golden heart

Is worn within,

The once begun

Must again begin,

To capture the gold

She will wear without,

To continue the quest

And quash any doubt

That she is a mermaid

Of some renown,

Destined to wear

The laurel crown

A gold medallion

Around her neck,

A prize the sea urchin

Can no longer wreck

As smote but undaunted

She reclaims her place

And swims towards

The Great Mermaids Race.

 

Isabel Mary Wallace 01/01/2009

For Stephanie Millward