“
Sophie could feel Syrena’s sigh; the mermaid’s body beneath her sagged with it. “Can’t even be mad at you,” the mermaid said, her voice little more than a mumble. “You too stupid to even be mad at. You live in world without poetry, without poets. You think poet’s job to tell your mother happy birthday. You are such a fool you don’t even know you are a fool. How can I be mad at such fool? Poet’s job to create the world.
”
”