Mermaid, Daughter of Air
I recently read that the Little Mermaid had the working title of 'Daughters of Air', and upon rereading the Hans Christian Anderson version I thought I'd imagine it a little differently in the form of this poem. Although not exactly true to the story, it was more about exploring the emotions and themes of the story.
Shimmering scales flit,
Under the surface of the sea,
The skin of the water taut; not yet broken,
Barrier between elements,
Fragile, only molecules thick,
The border between three worlds,
Tumultuously meeting in the surf,
Water warring against sand,
While the wind whips all together,
Creating salt-sand tornado,
That fights against them all,
And in the midst of this life blossoms,
Unexpected life; unexpected love.
All is against them,
Creatures from different elements,
That are pitted against each other,
The sacrifice, they cannot live without
Each other, yet they cannot live in war
With the opposite,
Water or the land are death to them both,
Wind seems to sing as it gusts past
Their doomed embrace,
Salt-spray their bleeding hearts.
Forsake the water
Forsake the sand
Become my son and daughter
Take my hand
A choice! A choice! Yet what a cost,
To both lose their element
To gain each other,
Is it a question or a heart-command?
She leaps without thought,
The crushing waves mixing with the air,
She decides.
But he hesitates,
Too late,
Does not make the leap,
Her hand left empty as he turns inland.
One with the wind,
She is comforted by tendrils of cloud,
Though her heart is breaking,
And tears fall like rain.
Thank you for reading and please leave a review.
Annapurna