Songs for the Drowning (A Mermaid Mother’s Tale)

I search out the damaged people. It’s a favor to them, and the world, when I come. I don’t hurt them, don’t frighten them. I find them sleeping fitfully under the bridges, huddled in nightmares down by the piers. I sing to them. Lullabies. I sing them down into the water. They drown before they wake. The dry air makes my throat parched. It’s painful to balance on my tail. My spine throbs with the compression of gravity. My lungs burn. My eyes scratch. But I do it. These deaths are kindnesses. And decent family meals.