I found an old bottle once
brown and distressed
all silver broken like a mirror
spent too long in acid
inside was a drawing
in charcoal not ink
of a mermaid with melting legs
her breasts covered with sails
I sat on the beach
writing on the back
of that drawing
writing of how her
eyes glowed, her
hair flowed, her
wrists crossed just so
back in the bottle it went
while I waited on the sand
nothing came back
though I thought
I heard an echo
of dolphins laughing