Ownership

A pearl lay glittering on the beach
Its smooth white bulging body
Held a pale milky smile
The pearl beckoned and I
Never one to resist wild calls
Knelt by its polished all-over belly.
Fancy got the better of me
I reached out and held it in my palm
When out from the sea a hundred mermaids
Leapt, fish-tails flailing, siren wails filling
the evening.
Their caterwauls trailed brightly
from my bleeding eardrums.
The pearl belongs to them apparently.
‘tis their plaything, ‘tis their own
I being no mermaid, I walked off.