Margaret Alice (The Crystal Age / Pretoria - South Africa)

The little mermaid died, the
price for prolonged life was
taking the life of her Prince,
the love of her life, watching
him murmuring the name of his
bride, she flung the death-knife
overboard, jumped into the sea,
ready to die

became ethereal, musical and
transparent, gained an immortal
soul through good deeds, endured
suffering in life, courage saved
her from the dead salt sea, made
a sprite of the air – an immortal
soul within three-hundred years…

How long will it take me to work
through life and reincarnations,
to live as an immortal, to share
in happiness everlasting?
Can I endure my suffering
with enough courage?

Hans Christian Andersen, The Little Mermaid,
translated by Paul Leyssac, Reader’s Digest
1970