My beloved man is lost at sea
It has been a while since I have seen thee
The children have cried so, but I refuse to believe he has died
like all the sailors say, oh the tales they talk of!
They speak of a fair maiden, with a fish’s tail
who sings upon the rocks, her eyes so blue and lips so pale
She lures men away with her, with her beautiful voice
The men love her so dearly; they do not even have a choice!
“This is where your man has gone,” they tell me, “far out to sea.”
“But I know my man!” I cry, “he would not swap me for a fish,
he loves only me, he says it all with a tender kiss!
It was to this woman of earth that he fell down on one knee.”
“Ah, but she is no mere fish,” they answer. “She is the mermaid of the sea,
all the men who have seen her, are rendered besotted with thee,
so seductive is her voice, so divine is her beauty
no woman of earth could compare with a woman of the sea!”
Could it be true, that he has left me for a mermaid?
Abandoned me during the night, he is not now where he used to lay
by my side, he promised me he’d stay, there till the day I died
It cannot be true, for if so, to me he has lied!
Looking out to sea, I wait for him still
For the day where he will stand by my side once more.
Stood by the shore, I will wait
Till my man of earth stands by me once more
Where he belongs, where he is rooted deep,
where he lays by my side, whilst we sleep
Where the ground is still beneath us
and no sinful mermaid shall he ever trust
Sometimes, I see a great fish’s tail
in the water with silver and green and blue scales
she waves to me from far out to sea
She is mocking, and I scream, “how I hate thee!
Bring me back my beloved man of earth
Set him free of the waves and surf
He is not yours to keep
for on my finger, is the ring he gave me.”
“He’s mine now,” a divine voice whispers
“Never again shall he return to horse and plough
With me he shall forever live
It is to me and only me, his love he gives.”
~
(25th May 2013)
