A mermaid's ballad

They met each and every night;

She came from the water,

He came from the campsite.

They told stories of their past;

She was a princess,

He was an outcast.

They sang ballads and wept;

She thought of her family,

He had no one whom he kept.

They laughed and danced near the fire;

She looked up at the sky,

He looked at her with desire.

They said their fair wells and smiled;

She swam back into the sea,

He went back into the wild.

They would meet again next day;

She was nowhere to be seen,

He stood waiting by the bay.

He placed a stone onto the ground

For each day she did not come.

He could have made a house with how many he had found!

He looked into the night with sorrow:

“I wonder where you are, my love.

I hope you will come back tomorrow!”

She had been killed by a sailor;

She would come no more,

But he still awaits outside their door.