Mermaid

So I said, man, pull her out of the water
And then, lay your hands and bind back her flippers and tail
Until international waters, and there, we'll feel
All that's human inside of her

So she's chilly and slick
On her hips where the scales meet with skin
With a sickening flick of her tail
Circling her gills filled with cold salty water
She thrashes and twirls
Her freezing fins fluttering

But she's pretty, I think
With her hair dark as ink
And her belly bone-white
And her lips of a slight seashell pink
Lightly part as she's tonguing the tub's rusty rim
As the salt water, it flows out again

Oh, farewell is to the land we know well
We'll never be touching again
To fields where we rambled and ran
Farewell to our wives and children
Let's stand on the deck and let's watch
Them all disappearing

And the days all float by
And the days over waves under sky
And the weeks slowly leak into years
The last islands are all left behind
As we silently sail
Until late some dark night, a wild wind starts to wail

And our map blows away
And our compasses fail
And it's out on the lost boiling black water where

I see her float out
She's so thin and so pale
I see her rise up
She's so fast and so fair
My hands meet, and they press to a point in the air

But my mouth fills with more panic than prayer
And my skull fills with more color than care
And my heart fills with love, with too much love to bear
And I know that I'll stay, that she'll always be there
My hands suck in cold, sad seaweed strung through her hair and I

Oh-oh
La, la, la-la
La, la, la, la-la, la-la