The Mermaid Dancer

The ocean stage
And the dancer; immortal

And the steam drips from the sides,
onto the audience,
it leaks as they watch
Transfixed
The dancer and her light motions
She charms her way into their memories and snatches them all
One by one; mercilessly,
as they fall
In love
Over and over

As she spins, and bounds and leaps
And shrieks
The dancer in her darkening robes,
Her sequined costume, her red façade,
bloodier than the dusty curtains
Her stage of steam and oceans; boundless
She tempts them
And tousles their senses,
they know not what she means
only how they feel
Only what she wants
Their memories and
Their applause

Transfixed and charmed,
They bring their hands together for the last time
As she bows low, looks up, flutters her painted eyelids and lashes,
Fixes them; each one,
With her serpents gaze; locked in and chained
They bring their hands together and
And she smiles.