To be read aloud:


Once I went to Mercy Beach
I walked through the waves and saw a man
He stood and stared and watched the ocean
But never moved or left the land.

I watched this man who watched the sea
And I wondered what he thought
What was it he waited for
So long his clothes had turned to rot?

I came once more to see the sea
And still there stood the Watching Man
He never moved or spoke or blinked
But simply stood, a shell in hand.

The third day I saw the Watching Man
I gathered my courage and to him spoke:
“What is it in the sea that causes
One to do nothing but stand and look?”

Such a long time I waited beside him
And not a single sound he made
Almost I turned and left him there
But then he opened his mouth to say:

“There is but little in this world
To love, saving love itself
And when such a prize is found
It is surely worth my life and health.
My love is not bound by petty time
My love is worth eternal wait
My love is untouched by doubt and fear
And chains won’t keep me from my fate.”

As he trembled in age and pain
He shook his arms and there I see
Rusty chains, so far-gone in decay
It seemed the sea itself tried to free.

He looked at me then, away from the water
And tears brimmed in his eyes, oh such
Salty tears, like the ocean before him
The only part of the sea he could touch.

He lowered his head, his pose so pleading
And I knew he belonged, not restrained
Not tied to the land where he so mourned
But in the sea, with his mermaid.

I took the chain, rusted and salty
And with one wrench, broke it in two
He touched his wrists, thanking me
And was gone in an instant in seas bright blue.


I came again another day
And waited, standing in the sand
But never again was the Watcher seen
So long as love is known to man.