 | The Complete Works of James Whitcomb Riley |  |
235
THE MERMAN
I
Who would beA merman gay,
Singing alone,
Sitting alone,
With a mermaid's knee,
For instance—hey—
For a throne?
II
I would be a merman gay;I would sit and sing the whole day long;
I would fill my lungs with the strongest brine,
And squirt it up in a spray of song,
And soak my head in my liquid voice;
I'd curl my tail in curves divine,
And let each curve in a kink rejoice.
I'd tackle the mermaids under the sea,
And yank 'em around till they yanked me,
Sportively, sportively;
And then we would wiggle away, away,
To the pea-green groves on the coast of day,
Chasing each other sportively.
236
III
There would be neither moon nor star;But the waves would twang like a wet guitar—
Low thunder and thrum in the darkness grum—
Neither moon nor star;
We would shriek aloud in the dismal dales—
Shriek at each other and squawk and squeal,
“All night!” rakishly, rakishly;
They would pelt me with oysters and wiggletails,
Laughing and clapping their hands at me,
“All night!” prankishly, prankishly;
But I would toss them back in mine,
Lobsters and turtles of quaint design;
Then leaping out in an abrupt way,
I'd snatch them bald in my devilish glee,
And skip away when they snatched at me,
Fiendishly, fiendishly.
O, what a jolly life I'd lead,
Ah, what a “bang-up” life indeed!
Soft are the mermaids under the sea—
We would live merrily, merrily.
| The Complete Works of James Whitcomb Riley | |