Lodged between the shadowed rocks,
Helpless, tired and shivering.
There she lay, as if in death,
On seaweed beds and quivering.
Sanded hair in tendrilled veil,
Skin so cool and smooth.
I don’t remember if her tail,
Twitched slightly when it moved.
Gently under darkening sky,
I eased her from the grip.
And at the touch of warmer skin,
Her scales began to slip.
One by one they left a trace,
Of stars across the shore.
And by the time I laid her down,
Her tail was there no more.
Now beneath a slender waist,
And falling to the knee.
A shapely curving pair of legs,
Where tail had used to be.
Slightly fizzy on the tongue,
Citrus limed and salty.
Pressed against me on that night,
Her perfect body taught me.
More about a lover’s touch,
Than ever I could learn.
Had I not been there on that beach,
My mermaid’s love to earn.
Just before the dawn we woke,
And leading by the hand.
She walked me to the water’s edge,
Where shingle turns to sand.
And at the touch of ocean’s tongue
Her form began to change,
Gone the legs I’d lain between,
Replaced by tail again.
I held her in my arms until
The current was too strong,
And pointing at the bright full moon,
My mermaid love was gone.
Waking as the flowing tide had
Soaked me to the knees.
The crash of waves upon the shore,
Absorbed my sobs and pleas.
So cast aside the whiskey jar,
For of the booze I’m cured,
And I will search that western beach,
Each full moon now for sure.
© Sam McKeon 2015
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