I <br /> <br />Who would be <br />A merman gay, <br />Singing alone, <br />Sitting alone, <br />With a mermaid's knee, <br />For instance--hey-- <br />For a throne? <br /> <br />II <br /> <br />I would be a merman gay; <br />I would sit and sing the whole day long; <br />I would fill my lungs with the strongest brine, <br />And squirt it up in a spray of song, <br />And soak my head in my liquid voice; <br />I'd curl my tail in curves divine, <br />And let each curve in a kink rejoice. <br />I'd tackle the mermaids under the sea, <br />And yank 'em around till they yanked me, <br />Sportively, sportively; <br />And then we would wiggle away, away, <br />To the pea-green groves on the coast of day, <br />Chasing each other sportively. <br /> <br />III <br /> <br />There would be neither moon nor star; <br />But the waves would twang like a wet guitar <br />Low thunder and thrum in the darkness grum-- <br />Neither moon nor star; <br />We would shriek aloud in the dismal dales-- <br />Shriek at each other and squawk and squeal, <br />"All night!" rakishly, rakishly; <br />They would pelt me with oysters and wiggletails, <br />Laughing and clapping their hands at me, <br />"All night!" prankishly, prankishly; <br />But I would toss them back in mine, <br />Lobsters and turtles of quaint design; <br />Then leaping out in an abrupt way, <br />I'd snatch them bald in my devilish glee, <br />And skip away when they snatched at me, <br />Fiendishly, fiendishly. <br />O, what a jolly life I'd lead, <br />Ah, what a "bang-up" life indeed! <br />Soft are the mermaids under the sea-- <br />We would live merrily, merrily.<br /><br />James Whitcomb Riley<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-merman/
