Ode To A Mermaid

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

As regular readers know, I ‘do whimsical’ sometimes. I began writing this poem on the cliffs at Scarborough in 2007, and then forgot about it, only to rediscover it in an old notebook a year or so later. AS a child, I loved The Little Mermaid, a story by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. I suspect I have never quite grown up as fairy tales and their allegorical significance continue to haunt my personal space... in the nicest possible way.

Did I hear a mermaid singing? Oh, probably not, but...

ODE TO A MERMAID

I once hit a beach at the cliff edge of night,

not a single star left shining,

my soul, a Black Hole, no glimmer of light,

(even the moon was in hiding)

I cried out in terror. (Did no one hear me?)

The whole world lay sleeping;

heavy eyes stinging with spray from the sea,

I heard a mermaid singing

Despairingly, I scoured that awful darkness

till I made out a shadowy figure

dancing on the water like a pagan goddess

grieving our past, present, future…

Listening to the song she sung, of a history

in which I, too, played a part,

it struck a low, half-forgotten chord in me

not yet (quite) played out

Louder, a hymn to the world’s damaged souls

rang in my ears, on my tongue,

calling on its strengths, inspiring new goals,

(of these, too, the mermaid sung)

She left suddenly, as if frightened by the dawn,

its first weepy light already clearing,

in whose sight I’ll walk tall, never (quite) alone

for the song of a mermaid singing

Copyright R. N. Taber 2009

Photo: The Little Mermaid on a rock overlooking Copenhagen harbour as inspired by the famous fairytale by Hans Christian Andersen.