My Mermaid

I caught a tiny elfin mermaid when I was fishing at the quiet pond in the woods behind my house.  The hook caught her through the arm. She was limp and pleading with open mouth, gasping and lost in the palm of my hand. I took her home, clipped off the hook and touched the wound with iodine.  She smelled like a warm chestnut. Then I set her gently into my fish tank where she sunk in a spiral to the bottom and hid inside a ceramic pirate ship, avoiding the guppies that looked curiously upon her. In the morning I found her much improved.  She was flitting about the tank, playing with the bubbles and fishes, waving at me when I pressed my hand against the glass. I dropped in some fish pellets but she crossed her arms and turned away from them. I scooped her out with a net that afternoon and took her back to the pond, returning her to freedom.  She splashed me with her tail then disappeared under the surface, leaving me with a wounded heart and a bitter desire for sushi.

 © Poem Fix http://www.poemfix.com/ 2013 

Image: Trounce, Clonfert Cathedral, Clonfert, County Galway, Ireland