Take a breath, she said and
Savor its sweet willow wisps of life
For if you dive headfirst into the unknown
It will surely be the last bit of air you sacrifice

We dove anyway and we were flying
Melting legendary unstoppable
Fishtailed scared little girls with pretty masks and
Empty lungs reaching towards nothing
Nothing but each other and our silly human hands
It stung it stung her hands they promised not to do me harm
But a million electric lightning tentacles are fearlessly destructive

My head tricked my body tricked my heart tricked my brain
Into thinking we were scaly luscious beautiful
Mermaids in coral coves with seashell headdresses
I was wrong/gullible/stupid
We were not stunning mermaid queens
We were lightning bugs; jelly fish
No brains no hearts no love no smarts
Nothing but illusion glowing from the inside out
Facades wrapped in a breakable shell
Breakable.