The Little Mermaid

The little mermaid her fate was grim
Her life sacrificed to a lover’s whim
On his birthday did he sail
out to meet a sudden gale.

She swam and lay him on the shore
By the convent on the moor;
At dawn came the youngest convent girl,
Her skirts swaying, her hair a’ swirl.
Ever afraid of being seen,
She dived down, ‘He’s safe,’ she gleaned.

And from the day she saved the prince,
She has loved him ever since.
So off she went to the old witch,
And gave herself up, for the switch
to a human from a fish.
She sighed and muttered, ‘I can grant you this wish.’
‘But be aware’, the hag forewarned
that only when the prince hath sworn
To you and alone the role
Of his wife, shall you reach your goal.’

‘So take heed, my pretty thing,
For when he takes out that ring
And places it on another’s hand,
Your heart will break, you’ll turn to sand.
Are you yet sure you have the zeal
enough to go through this ordeal?’

And so it’s told that she became
The world’s loveliest little dame.

When she awoke on the palace stair
Her delicate body wrapped in her hair.
The moment the prince set eyes on the girl,
His love for her began to unfurl.

But since she could no longer speak,
So from her eyes her emotions did seep.
‘Dost thou not love me above all others?
That you would leave thy father and mother?”

‘My little foundling,’ he would decree,
‘I love you as much as could be!’
But alas not once in his life,
Did he consider to make her his wife.

One day his parents did no less,
Arrange his marriage with a princess;
Whereat the prince gasped and raved.
‘‘Tis you, the one my life did save
when I awoke upon the shore,
In front of the convent by the moor!’
A single tear drop flowed from she,
Who yet smiled at the prince’s glee.
‘This is it!’ her mind did cry,

‘Tomorrow morning I must die!’

But that night when all were at rest,
After the joyful wedding fest,
Bearing a knife as sharp as sin
It was just a cursed piece of tin.
Her sisters five rose out of the sea,
‘Kill the prince then you shall be free!’

But as she gazed upon his face
Love for him filled every space
In her fond heart did she say,
‘He had loved me ‘til this day.
To kill him now would also kill me.
I would rather be sand in the sea.’

As she threw the knife over board,
In came the mercy of the Lord
that made her a daughter of the sky,
Where in and out of houses they would fly.

“See a good child and lose one year,
See a bad child and shed a tear.”
And add a day to their probation,
In three years time they woud be a sensation,
and float to Heaven in the air
The wind whistling through their hair.

Their cheers echoing all around,
As to their surprise they found
That they had reached the ultimate goal,
They had gained
An immortal soul.

- Gwenyn Chan

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