Back before they tore up the ore
covered train tracks down near the shore
there was a dusty rust colored road
where my friends and I would go to explore.
We ran into many characters, but one who stuck in my mind
was a wino fisherman who fixated on a divine
mermaid. He said caught her once, but she got away.
So from then on he threw his line out day after day,
with a wedding ring attached to the end,
he was convinced she was the one, so again and again
I'd ask "What are you doing today friend?"
and he'd always reply "Trying to make the pain end."

He'd talk about her every single day.
He never seemed to take his eyes away
from the shoreline. He never said her name,
so everyone just called her the fisherman's mermaid.

Some people hated him, some were afraid of him,
I just listened to his tales and drank with him.
I knew his soul mate was make believe,
But I'm generally the type to live and let live. I mean
I felt bad, it was three shades of upsetting
to see a grown ass man constantly obsessing
over a creature that couldn't possibly exist,
and even if she did, who really wants to kiss a fish?
I never asked him that, I felt like it'd be rude.
so we'd take a swig and pass the flask, that's what we used to do.
He'd cry nightly about the love that wasn't meant to be,
cause she'd dry up on the land and he'd drown inside the sea.

He'd talk about her every single day.
He never seemed to take his eyes away
from the shoreline. He never said her name,
so everyone just called her the fisherman's mermaid.

But one day like 5 years or so back,
in fact it was right around the time they tore up the train tracks.
I heard that same scratchy voice with a new spin
cause this time the old man was wearing a grin.
With no pole, no tears, no ring, no line;
I asked him why and to my surprise.
He looked me right in the eyes and said "Goodbye my friend.
I finally found a way to make the pain end."
He told me he saw her sun bleached hair through the water,
and that she'd agreed to marry him right after he caught her.
He left his flask on the shore the night he disappeared.
I don't know where he went but I haven't seen him in years.