SUNDAY POETRY: "THE MERMAID IN THE HOSPITAL"

The painting, Ondina, is by Brazilian artist Walmor Correa, who creates cryptozoological medical portraits of mermaids, cyclopses, anteater men, and other fictional animal hybrids.

THE MERMAID IN THE HOSPITAL

by Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill

translated by Paul Muldoon

She awoke   

to find her fishtail   

clean gone   

but in the bed with her   

were two long, cold thingammies.   

You'd have thought they were tangles of kelp   

or collops of ham.

"They're no doubt   

taking the piss,   

it being New Year's Eve.   

Half the staff legless   

with drink   

and the other half   

playing pranks.   

Still, this is taking it   

a bit far."

And with that she hurled

the two thingammies out of the room.

But here's the thing   

she still doesn't get—

why she tumbled out after them   

arse-over-tip...

How she was connected   

to those two thingammies   

and how they were connected   

to her.

It was the sister who gave her the wink

and let her know what was what.

"You have one leg attached to you there   

and another one underneath that.   

One leg, two legs...

A-one and a-two...

Now you have to learn   

what they can do."

In the long months   

that followed,   

I wonder if her heart fell

the way her arches fell,

her instep arches.