The Mermaid Strory Poem by Anupama Anpat

She sits near the harbour,
with longing in her eyes,
away from comfort of her parlour,
from sun down to sun rise.

She awaits her lover’s return,
he has been gone for years,
for his one glimpse, she yearns,
her rosy cheeks stained with tears.

He was her first love,
she saw him aboard a ship,
the day when sea was rough,
his boat capsized and was hit.

He was sinking fast,
she came to his aid,
steering away from ship’s mast,
towards the shore, she wade.

For a fleeting moment,
he saw her angelic face,
his senses were in torment,
he fell in and out of haze.

She lovingly stroked him,
he was the first man she had seen,
she kissed his lips on a whim,
wondering if this is what love means.

His eyes opened and saw her,
was this reality or a dream?
Something in his heart caused a stir,
she was celestial, her aura so sheen.

She went back under the water,
he called and begged her to stay,
can one’s world so swiftly alter?
To meet her again, he did pray.

She came to see him at dusk,
they would talk for hours,
together they gazed at the cusp,
away from prying eyes near a bower.

He had come to love her so,
but was called away to another land,
her bliss turned into a tale of woe.
Pinnacle of passion withered into sand.

He will return, he had vowed,
she would wait till eternity’s end,
with his love, she was endowed,
time did not let her feelings relent.

As days passed into months
and years, she waited for news,
word was amongst fairies and nymphs,
that she was love’s own muse.

She still waits to this day,
immortalised in a sculpture,
symbol of eternal love, they say,
she sits by the harbour in a timeless rupture.