Mermaid Smiled

[Verse 1]

From pools of xylophone clear

From caves of memory

I saw the children at heart

That we once used to be

Borne on foaming seahorse herd

Compose with trumpeting shell

From lines across their hands

A song as new as new moon

As old as all the sands

[Chorus]

Shrank to stagnant from Atlantic wild

Lost that child 'til mermaid smiled

[Verse 2]

Summoned by drum rolling surf

As laughing fish compel

The young boy woken in me

By clanging diving bell

Breakers pillow-fight the shore

She wriggles free in the tide

I'm locked in adult land

Back in the mirror she slides

Waving with comb in hand

[Chorus]

I was lucky to remain beguiled

Grown to child since mermaid smiled