The Mermaid

On golden sands, beside the jade salt water,
I heard a mermaid sing a silver song.
I called her softly: "Tarry, Ocean's daughter
o glorious creature, so wild and so strong!"

She answered, "Sister, I was born of Earth.
He broke my heart... it seems so long ago...
And madness murdered all my youthful mirth.
I threw myself upon the river's flow

and drowned. The water bore me to the sea.
And salt as blood, and salt as tears, the waves
dissolved away all mortal memory.
They lie who say I'm buried in some grave--"

She laughed out loud, so free of grief and shame:
"Ophelia! Ophelia's my name!"