Mermaid's Lament

Retreat, retreat to the grotto!
Back to the back,
Safe in stone.
Passerby's take what they need.
Take what they need, pass on by.
She's too much for the mortals.
She's not enough.
She's not weak enough.
Her old soul, her infant ego,
Too confusing for the passerby's.
Retreat, retreat to the grotto.
Molt again and again.
Too beautiful, too swift.
She holds her old skin, mourning.
She lays it down, so it'll wash away.
She flicks her fins and goes for a cruise,
Observing all the lovers loving.
As if she were an electric eel, no one comes close.
Retreat once more,
Clean the place up.
Pieces of dignity, pictures of old lovers, treasures from the sea,
From the see, from the seeing,
Swept clean again.
Her seahorse muse sings her to sleep,
In the grotto.