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Here lies a mermaid

from The Jester's Quest in the City of Glass by Lyrian

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    Three hideously ugly children captured by witches and boiled in a pot until they were rendered into a flat, silvery disk and buried in a transparent plastic coffin.

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about

Fit the Fourth: Here Lies a Mermaid

Narrator: The Jester is dreaming of an island with a single green tree. At first he is alone there ...

The Jester lay sleeping upon the white sand
A tree spread above him, a glass by his hand
On a small summer island far from the mainland
And the sea was singing around

He woke to a gull-cry that shivered the air
And saw, out to sea, the pale arm and dark hair
Of someone he thought might be drowning out there
Where starfish and moonfish abound

He shaded his eyes, the sea sparkled and flared
And soon saw a woman, pale skinned and dark haired
Who was swimming to shore, while he waited and stared
With a longing he could not explain

She beached like a seal and the Jester could see
She’d a tail and pale scales where her loins ought to be
Then by some ocean magic her tail changed and he
Saw flesh, and that flesh gave him pain

She touched him, and kissed him, and whispered a word
In a sweet foreign language which no man had heard
And he asked her his name and her tongue softly stirred
And sea-water sprang for her eyes

She said ‘some call you Strawcop, and some call you Stone
And some called you Spiller before you were grown
Or the child most beloved, the child most alone’
But he knew she was telling him lies

He wanted to kiss her a thousand times more
And ask her his question again but before
He could do so she smiled and ran back to the shore
And danced with the waves as they broke

Her legs grew together and flesh turned to scale
Her eyes became dark and her hair became pale
It appeared to be golden now, bright as her tail
Which threw up the sea-spray like smoke

She entered the breakers and cast back a wave
A salt valediction as cold as the grave
Then she swam, silver-haired, weeping silently save
For the ocean’s unbearable sound

The Jester looked round at his island of gold
And knew he was dreaming and knew he’d been told
Some secret, some truth, he’d forgotten to hold
And the sea was singing around

credits

from The Jester's Quest in the City of Glass, released April 1, 2016

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Lyrian Moreton In Marsh, UK

John Blake: guitars, singing
Alison Felstead: bass, singing
Paul W. Nash: keyboards, guitars, woodwinds, singing
Edgar Wilde: drums, percussion

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