Little Mermaid's Longing

Trapped in

the earth’s

largest aquarium,

I float in foggy blue

flecked by plastic particulate,

desiring green

(bet they don’t pollute their air),

sun simmering on sandy shore,

the stability rootedness offers,

unmoving mountains

far away from ever-shifting seafloors.

A fin finds no footing undersea.

Oh, more! More than my watery tongue can tell.

“Darling, it’s better!”

gulls call,

hares swear,

deer cheer,

… I’ve a human heart, I know.

My voice for that of whistling wind,

my centuries for a moment of loping legs,

my tail for ten tormented toes.

Salty sea for sweetest streams,

ocean for Orion �"

all freely forfeited,

for the soil’s siren song

seduces me.