Ocean

I fell in love with a mermaid the other day,
Not the kind you're now picturing,
Just listen.

She's been marooned on the land as long as I've known her,
A cruel fate for the sea,
But to me her identity was no secret.

It wasn't her legs or lack of fins that gave it away,
I've never seen her swim,
I noticed when I swam in her eyes.

Raw, titanic, natural, overwhelming,
Eternal, bottomless, a cosmos, the sublime,
I surface and take a breath.

I noticed when I explored her heart,
Grateful for the opportunity to witness the wonder,
I noticed when that heart was unleashed.

Endless, untamed, torrential,
Tidal, expansive, enveloping,
The taste of saltwater tears.

So why is she a slave to the land?
What curse imprisons her here?
We do.

We ask and she answers,
She will always return, like a wave to the beach,
She has learned to listen to the moon.

One day I'd like to see her set free from the land,
I wonder where her current will take her,
Though I'm certain it will be beyond my sight.

I'm beautifully afraid of the ocean.