BENEATH THE SEA

Oh little mermaid
of the sea,
are you real
or make-believe?
Tell me, Oh
what lies beneath
these ocean waves?
I can not see.
Tell me of the dolphin
and the mighty whale.
What of the ships
that once did sail
above, across
the ocean waves
that mighty storms
sent to their graves...
Of pirates’ treasure
you have found
beneath the waves,
lying around.
Oh little mermaid
of the sea,
what lies beneath?
Please talk to me.
Who tends the herds
of the sea cows...?
And on those seahorses,
do mercowboys ride
the sea grass prairies
within the tides,
the ocean range somehow?
Are the starfish from heaven,
Are they stars fallen from the sky
that landed in the ocean?
I've seen the sky stars fly,
fly away to somewhere
way far beyond my reach...
I sit sometimes and wonder,
watching from the beach,
thinking about what lies beneath,
how living there might be,
living in the ocean,
below tides that you live under,
but I can not live beneath the sea
so I'm left to sit and wonder.

Annette Bromley