Nikki Giovanni: A fish out of water

I know how
The mermaid
Feels

You give up
Your gills
So you can't
Go back
To the water

Yet there is
No way
You can live
On land

There are cats
And dogs
And even robins
Who might take
Pleasure
In capturing
Something strange

There are school
Children
Who will
Throw rocks

And laughter
At the little
Fish who
Floundered

There is of course
The memory
Of the love
That propelled
This jet

And now I sit
On the beach
Listening to the waves
Crash over the rocks

And wish
I had seen
The end of this story
At the beginning
Instead of
At the end