Whale Song

I was flushed ashore along the stranded whales,

my song having failed to make a difference.

Verse upon verse about fountains and waterfalls

had created the ocean of my undoing ---

I was in over my head; no mermaid's tail,

no gills to help me breathe, just the faint hope

that all would be well in the end.

No strong arms pulled me up when I was sinking,

no vessel came to carry me home.

My friends, the whales, tried to help me,

but all they knew was that I did not belong

and that I could not copy their ancient song.

Yet their sacrificial nature set them off course,

and here we are: they no longer chanting;

I, beaten and bruised against the rocks,

my blood washed away by the surf.

In the distance, I hear the merfolk singing...

I make a wish upon a stranded starfish

and throw it back into the sea.

One day, in another life, I will sing like that ---

that will be me.