Living after the Fairy Tale
Ariel
Her hair streaked with grey
and crow’s feet by her eyes,
she gazed on the sea
while repressing her cries.
The one thing in the world
she was desperate for most
was lost now forever;
a memory, a ghost.
For the one thing she craved,
and so desperately needed
was to get back her tail
and proceed unimpeded
back into the ocean
back into the swell,
to see all of her sisters
and best friends as well.
But she would never be able
to know how it feels
to brush against coral
or race against seals.
Her father had died
from a human attack
and took with him the power
to bring Ariel back.
She was stuck now on land
and trapped in a frame
that she no longer wanted;
a body she blamed.
But then, twas the fault
of just her alone
and that weight she would carry
til her death as a crone
Her decision was selfish,
the result of her youth
to marry a man
without even the truth.
The truth of his temper,
or humor or style,
or the truth of the humans
and their societies guile.
Soon after she married,
it all fell apart
as she realized that they
were so different at heart.
They had nothing in common
they had no akin goals
except to have children
and a family, whole.
So she gave birth to three boys
But her love was bevreaved
for soon they grew into men
and then took their leave.
When the last of her children,
moved out and moved on
she packed up and left
and became more withdrawn.
She was sick of her husband
and his half-hearted ways
all she wanted was family
and friends from old days.
But as she gazed at the ocean
she knew deep inside
that she’d never go back
just stay, cast aside.
And every day that she spent
gazing out from the coast
she regretted her choice
to become human the most,
For she never belonged
in the fields with the trees
her home was the water,
as a child of the sea.
