Sunil Sharma writes

 Copenhagen’s Little Mermaid

The rain-whipped Copenhagen

Stands dripping and wet

On that memorable June visit

And recalled often in-between states

Of dreaming and waking up in Mumbai.

Standing at the Langelinie Promenade

That day I stand reverentially and watch

The Little Mermaid that has pulled me

There to that promenade, my pilgrimage!

She, the Immortal One,

Sits atop a rock, looking forlorn, detached!

The glossy raindrops and the grey afternoon

Make it a gloomy spot in the glittering skyline.

The rain accentuates her inner solitude

Which Hans C. Andersen hinted at so subtly.

The odd character from a celebrated fairy story

Becomes real here, that instant, with the ocean providing

A backdrop of immensity to her hybrid frailty!

Love and longings are caught vividly in the bronze

Sculpture by Edvard Eriksen so deftly.

The screaming tourists take pictures along with the

Iconic figure of that half fish-half woman as

A souvenir for posterity; their grins starkly

Incongruous against her suppressed pain;

Fascinated, I watch the Little Mermaid, a masterpiece

Of another masterpiece

Perched delicately on the rock, homeless, yet at home.

Mermaids fascinate mortals like the sirens

In the Odyssey.

On many lonely nights, I have heard them calling from

Across the distant seas, in my little home.

This mermaid is caught

Perfectly in a somber mood, pondering over the

Fate of unrequited love in the world of strange humans;

Standing there that wet afternoon

And being hit by the spring rain

In quaint Copenhagen where once

Vikings lived and went out in ships,

I see the vulnerable figure, this

Epitome of sacrifice and silence,

And her isolation on high tide and moonless nights

When her sisters call out her name but she pines

For her lost prince!

I peer closer as the warm drops cascade down my body

And find H. C. Andersen looking at me through her sad eyes!

In Copenhagen, along its winding alleys and arches,

Parks, woodlands and near the shore

You can still hear the footfalls of the cultural history.

  

Den lille havfrue -- Edvard Eriksen