Deirdre Hines, The Mermelf

 What is a mermelf?...

 If by happychance you were to see

a mermelf looking up at you from deep

within some sea water or shaded nook

you'd see yourself reflected in eyes

 that shift and change colour depending on

 time of year or remembered moment

 like when they grew their first set of wings

or when their famous fur took on the hue

of the ancient Wisdom Bears of Thyme.

Perhaps their laugh would tickle your funny

bone too, or you'd join them in a dig-

 (for mermelves are builders of renown,

not just on land, but also on sea beds.)

Sometimes a mermelf may look at first like

a moving rainbow. This is because they

like to decorate their fur with flowers,

shells or borrowed items from Flotsam

or her cousin Jetsam. (It is even

said they once found the maps that drew

the way to El Dorado, Atlantis,.

Lyonesse, but lost them to an air balloon.)

Stories of them climbing up and into

magpie nests, or hunting after dwarven

hordes are true. Mermelves love shiny jingles

perhaps because their hair is Wisdom Bear brown..

Until they reach the age of magical

seven plus or minus two all mermelves

can understand everything that is or will

or was. Like all and every child that ever

is or will or was they know Wisdom

for who She truly is behind the masque

of Learn This Off By Heart instead of Live

Life, Ask Why, Follow Paths of Hearts.

To remember those who rathered reasoning

The Mereum of Colossal Mistakes

has pictures in its archives of schools,

so that history does not repeat

errors made by lies on the Earth plane.

Further details