Mermaid in my Fish Bowl

I would say she was no larger
than a feeder-fish minnow,
a paperclip, and yet there was
a largeness to her spirit I could not
deny. Day after day I pressed
my nose against the glass
as unrequited love. Sometimes
she swam around the castle
or floated to the surface,
opened her round mouth as a kiss,
and accepted my offering
of fish flakes. My friends
insisted I might as well scoop out
my eyes and be done with it,
that she would never feel
what I felt, but still some days
I changed into my bathing suit
and dipped a hand deep down
into the aquarium. The water
was warm and inviting. Some day,
I told myself, she would come to me.
Some day she would swim willingly
into my open palm.

Copyright © 2009 Doug Ramspeck All rights reserved
from Plain Spoke
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission