 | Leaves of life |  |
119
THE MERMAID.
‘If on some balmy summer night
You rowed across the moon-path white,
And saw the shining sea grow fair
With silver scales and golden hair,
What would you do?’
‘I would be wise,
And shut my ears and shut my eyes
Lest I should leap into the tide
To clasp the sea-maid as I died!’
You rowed across the moon-path white,
And saw the shining sea grow fair
With silver scales and golden hair,
What would you do?’
‘I would be wise,
And shut my ears and shut my eyes
Lest I should leap into the tide
To clasp the sea-maid as I died!’
‘But if she charmed you till you gazed
Deep in the sea-green eyes she raised,
Would you not lift her to the boat,
Let the oars drift, and moonwards float?’
‘No, that could never, never be!
For sea-maids die who leave the sea,
And no sweet maiden knows a charm
Could make me work her any harm!’
Deep in the sea-green eyes she raised,
Would you not lift her to the boat,
Let the oars drift, and moonwards float?’
‘No, that could never, never be!
For sea-maids die who leave the sea,
And no sweet maiden knows a charm
Could make me work her any harm!’
120
‘But if you thus were strong to flee
From sweet spells woven of moon and sea,
Are you quite sure that you would reach,
Without one backward look, the beach?’
‘I might look back, my dear, and then
Row back into the snare again:
Or, if I safely got away,
Regret it to my dying day!’
From sweet spells woven of moon and sea,
Are you quite sure that you would reach,
Without one backward look, the beach?’
‘I might look back, my dear, and then
Row back into the snare again:
Or, if I safely got away,
Regret it to my dying day!’
| Leaves of life | |