Mermaid

I live under water

I sink with the tide

I fall with the flowers

others cast aside

I swim with the turtles

I sleep beside the seals

I’ve seen you walk on the shore line

you wonder how it feels

To hold your breath

And then to jump down in the dark and see

watery patterns of seagrass

the loneliness that lives in me

I live under water

I sink with the tide

Drops run from my shoulders

when I sit by the beach at night

I think of the world I left

wonders I could have seen

I think of the love I’ve had

and all the sorrow in between

I held my breath

Then I jumped down in the dark and saw

the watery patterns of seagrass

and the loneliness I longed for