The Mermaid

I

Who would be
A mermaid fair,
Singing alone,
Combing her hair
Under the sea,
In a golden curl
With a comb of pearl,
On a throne?

II

I would be a mermaid fair;
I would sing to myself the whole of the day;
With a comb of pearl I would comb my hair;
And still as I comb'd I would sing and say,
'Who is it loves me? who loves not me?'
I would comb my hair till my ringlets would fall
Low adown, low adown,
From under my starry sea-bud crown
Low adown and around,
And I should look like a fountain of gold
Springing alone
With a shrill inner sound
Over the throne
In the midst of the hall;
Till that great sea-snake under the sea
From his coiled sleeps in the central deeps
Would slowly trail himself sevenfold
Round the hall where I sate, and look in at the gate
With his large calm eyes for the love of me.
And all the mermen under the sea
Would feel their immortality
Die in their hearts for the love of me.

III

But at night I would wander away, away,
I would fling on each side my low-flowing locks,
And lightly vault from the throne and play
With the mermen in and out of the rocks;
We would run to and fro, and hide and seek,
On the broad sea-wolds in the crimson shells,
Whose silvery spikes are nighest the sea.
But if any came near I would call and shriek,
And adown the steep like a wave I would leap
From the diamond-ledges that jut from the dells;
For I would not be kiss'd by all who would list
Of the bold merry mermen under the sea.
They would sue me, and woo me, and flatter me,
In the purple twilights under the sea;
But the king of them all would carry me,
Woo me, and win me, and marry me,
In the branching jaspers under the sea.
Then all the dry-pied things that be
In the hueless mosses under the sea
Would curl round my silver feet silently,
All looking up for the love of me.
And if I should carol aloud, from aloft
All things that are forked, and horned, and soft
Would lean out from the hollow sphere of the sea,
All looking down for the love of me.

Lord Alfred Tennyson

The Mermaid's Spaeing

The King did a Mermaid catch and keep,
(The Mermaids all a-playing)
And chained her in a dungeon deep,
His will was no gainsaying.

The Queen she spake to her pages three:
"Now pray the Mermaiden to speak with me!"

In came the Mermaid and stood by the board:
"What wilt thou, oh Queen, that thou sentest me word?"

The cushion of blue she smoothed and pressed:
"Tarry now, Mermaid, and take thy rest!"

"Wilt thou by leasing take my life?
Beneath lies hidden a whetted knife!"

"Knowest thou that, then knowest thou more,
Tell what the future hath in store!"

"Three sons of thee shall be born,
But thy young life is lost and lorn.

"Denmark the first shall have and hold,
The second shall wear a crown of gold.

"The third shall be so great on earth
That thou must die to give him birth."

She decked the Mermaid with pomp and pride,
She led her to the strand with all her maids beside.

Out swam the Mermaid into the deep,
But ever the Queen so sore did weep.

"Now weep not for words thou didst hear from me,
The gates of Heaven stand open for thee!"

The Moon Child

A little lonely child am I
That have not any soul;
God made me as the homeless wave,
That has no goal.
A seal my father was, a seal
That once was man;
My mother loved him tho' he was
'Neath mortal ban.
He took a wave and drowned her,
She took a wave and lifted him;
And I was born where shadows are
In sea-depths dim.
All through the sunny blue-sweet hours
I swim and glide in waters green;
Never by day the mournful shoures
By me are seen.
But when the gloom is on the wave
A shell unto the shore I bring;
And then upon the rocks I sit
And plaintive sing.
I have no playmate but the tide
The seaweed loves with dark brown eyes;
The night-waves have the stars for play,
For me but sighs.

by Fiona Macleod

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