once upon a time

in a ocean cave down deep

there was a mermaid with red hair

who really really wanted feet

she wanted to explore

more than the ocean had to offer

and she had had sixteen years

for these kinds of thoughts to foster

 

she went to the sea witch

with a vision in her mind –

she left on a note on her bed

for her family to find and

didn’t once think about the things

that she was to leave behind

 

ariel made it to the surface

this was her dream come true

she found her prince soon after and

thought of the statue

that her father

had ruined

in his anger

 

was that when she had decided to leave?

after he had smote her trinkets from the world she wished to see?

no matter anymore, she was gone, he would find

an empty bed with no daughter

but the contract she had signed.

 

she was not to go back to the sea

but to live her life on land

with her prince forevermore

 

she was free –

he’d understand.