The Little Mermaid on the Shore

The Little Mermaid

Takes one suitcase with her
When she returns to the sea

She’s going home

For her ninth youngest sister’s

Three hundredth birthday

For a present

She’s bringing

A trumpet

It was in the lost and found

At the palace

And if she remembers correctly

Her little sister

Always liked things

Made of brass

Her father is sending

A sea lion

To pick her up

And from there

She’ll need to take

An orca whale

And a jellyfish

To the bottom

Of the ocean

Her lungs have been

On land for so long

That she’ll need

To wear a nautical mask

Fashioned for her

By a friend’s octopus

So she can breathe

While she’s at the party

The royal tailor

Did his best

Making her a pair of fins

She could wear

So she wouldn’t

Stand out too much

But standing

Ended up being

The problem

She kept falling down

And had to use her suitcase

To steady herself

The suitcase also had

Some cashews

For her father

A treat he privately enjoyed

But would never admit to

Some baubles and jewels

For her other sisters

And some forks

Since there never seem to be

Any forks

When she goes home

She’ll stay in her old

Water cave

Sleep on her old

Water bed

And look out the porthole

At the coral

That climbs up

And out of the sea

Now she knows

That living the way she did

Is similar to how humans

Who live near mountains do

Always looking up

And wondering

How high you can go

Before you have to

Come back down

The Prince promised

To finish the pool

While she was away

But she knew

That no matter how big

It would end up being

It wouldn’t be enough

And she can’t go

In the ocean anymore

Without wanting

To go further and further out

One day she went for a swim

And before she knew it

She was in the middle of the sea

No land in sight

And for the first time

She felt how ineffective her legs were

Out here where dorsals

And tentacles

Reign supreme

Luckily her twenty-eighth sister

Was swimming by

And saw her, stranded

She towed her sister

Back to shore

And warned her, kindly

That she needed

To stay closer

To where the waves crash

Ever since then, she doesn’t

Swim in the sea at all

She stands right at the edge

Of where the blue

Hits the sand

Where her suitcase sits now

And where she waits

For her escort

To take her

Back home

She’s sure everything

Will look very much

The same

But she is a very different

Type of person now

And that’s all right

Sometimes when you’re young

There are things

You’ll look forward to doing

When you’re older

And sometimes

When you’re older

There are things you’ll miss

From when you were young

Having things ahead

And things behind

Are what a life

The happy/sad

That keeps us calm

Like the ocean

After a storm

You look out

And you look out

And you look out

And there’s always more

To see

And some things

You’ll never see

No matter how hard

You cast your eyes

There’s a break

Below the surface

And she knows

Her ride has arrived

And it’s time

To go

For a swim