Hans Christian Anderson's
The Little Mermaid
Mer
Ancestor or myth? Or are you still there
beneath the waves, the waters
hidden deep within our Mother
hiding from your sisters and brothers
who once hunted and misunderstood
you who move as one with ocean
and creature alike. Who dive and
rise as dolphins and whales do.
Human or creature? Or are you
both? Do we know who we are?
We walk too tall among the others
pretend we are not one of them
those creatures who roam our
earth. Animal we are, but we
misunderstood our place.
You, ethereal, homo aquaticus
beautiful being upon the waves
are what we have dreamed into
legend, then myth, but then
we began to see you again
in books, logs of historical record,
once more we wonder. Are you there?
Shadows beneath the waves
beneath our conscious minds
deep in the sub ocean of our
imaginations you begin to rise.
We begin to understand again,
but can we take it all in
begin this life again from
a new place, as one with all the others?
Or will it drown us? This sea of
knowledge that we are no different
than you or the dolphin or the whale
or the sea lion or the ape washing
in the waters of life who stands
on two legs and wonders…
© 2012 Joanne Elliott
This poem was inspired by Animal Planet's, Mermaids: The Body Found. It didn't seem for real and was very sensationalized as most cable shows are now, but it did get me thinking. The video below is a music video by Raina, the Halifax Mermaid. The song is For the First Time by Drew Rogers.
VIDEO
