Mermaid Okkervil River

So I said, “Men, pull her out of the water
And then lay on hands
And bind back her flippers and tail
Until international waters. And there we’ll feel
What’s human inside of her.”

So she’s chilly and slick
On her hips where the scales meet with skin
With a sickening flick of her tail, circling
Her gills fill with cold, salty water
She thrashes and twirls, her freezing fins fluttering

And she’s pretty, I think
With her hair dark as ink, and her belly bone-white
And her lips, of a slight, sea-shell pink, slightly part
As she’s tonguing the tub’s rusty rim
As the saltwater flows out and in

All farewells to the land we knew well
We’d never be touching again
To the fields where we rambled and ran
Farewell to our wives and children
Let’s stand on the deck and let’s watch
Them all disappearing

And the days all float by
In a daze, over waves, under sky
And the weeks slowly leak into years
The last islands are all left behind as we silently sail