Bathing there in the town square
A mermaid plaits her windblown hair.
Marooned, alone, her bosom bare
Unashamed and unaware.

Amid a storm of the sea gulls screech
She sits atop a man made beach.
The ocean just beyond her reach.
Her island prison, sunshine bleached.

She hears laughing children run and play
Underneath her fountain’s spray.
Sees old women cool their feet by day
Feels lovers kiss the hours away.

Her steady gaze is toward the sea.
Forged long ago by man was she.
Longing everyday to be set free
Given no voice with which to plea.

Caressed by ocean mists at night
She holds her breath til dawn’s first light
When foaming waves, sea green and white
Finally grace her hungry sight.

The mermaid prays for storms to rise.
For terrible dark and wind filled skies
That whip the sea beyond it size.
Surged by the sea, tis then she cries.

Her tears unnoticed in the rain
Leave on her cheek a weathered stain
And she tastes their salty, stinging pain
As the sea slips back to its domain.

10/24/2004