Hiding beneath the protection of a palm tree,
In the scorching heat of paradise,
Paradise with its burning promise,
Sat the mermaid…so far from the sea.

Her heart sick from the blazing sun,
Her stomach hungry for his love,
And yet whenever he drew near,
He singed her soul just a little deeper.

“Oh sun, ” she cried,
“When will you grace my lips with a kiss?”

“Mermaid…” He said,
“My kiss will only hurt you.”

“But Sun,” she pleaded,
“When will I feel your embrace?”

“Mermaid, sweet mermaid, ” He laughed,
“My embrace will only burn you.”

“Please Sun..” She begged,
“When will you love me?”

“Mermaid…” He said,
“though you have braved the sea, and the scorching heat,
my love will only kill you,
though you beg to be mine,
I cannot let you die.”

“What does it matter?
Dying of loneliness or dying of love?”

But the sun, he did not hear her,
With his blinding light he turned away,
With his harsh waves he stilled her thirsty lips,
Not even a whisper could escape.

Falling asleep in the dry heat she dreamed,
Dreamed of long nights on a distant shore,
Of endless closeness, unselfishly born of hope,
Maybe one evening…maybe.

And in her dream she heard the Night whisper,
“Mermaid, don’t lose faith,
I don’t regret a single thing,
I loved as only I could,
Knowing it could never be.”

The mermaid tried to answer back,
But found her voice as dry and brittle as her lips.

“I wish I could be as bright as the Sun,
As warm and alluring as his rays,
I wish you would have crossed a dozen oceans for me,
I wish your little heart loved me,
But I cannot change, I am the night,
Never will I hold you,
Never will I warm your spirit,
But if only I could, I’d try.”

The mermaid struggled within herself,
With all her being to answer,
But her voice was but a shallow breeze,
On the hot sands of the Sun’s beach.

She remembered her nightly friend,
His caring shoulder she always leaned on,
His rich laugh and the way he always made her smile,
The sound of his voice against her ear,
Always keeping her company.

“Don’t pity me my mermaid princess,”
The Night touched her face within her dream,
His touch not as cold but full of life,
“I do not want for anything but your happiness,
It was your dreams that taught me to believe again,
Your smile that made my heart beat,
And my love for you that gave me hands to reach out,
Even if it’s just a moment in slumber.”

Her hand reached up to touch his,
The soothing comfort of his fingers,
Healing her burnt and eroding soul…

Never had she known a world so lonely,
So out of touch and so suffocating,
Draining of all the life within,
As the land in which the Sun had kept her.

“Night,” she finally whispered waking,
“Night…” she breathed in the summer heat,
“Save me…” She looked across the sea.