The mermaid was dead, of that they were sure <br />They carried her out, to the green pastures <br /> <br />They buried her deep, and there left a cross <br />Near which, the bereft waves were tossed. <br /> <br />And the moon crept high, and the tide moved slow, <br />And a low and murmuring cry did blow: <br /> <br />At first was faint and seemed far away, <br />Yet soon was audible through the bay. <br /> <br />It sounded like wind, had lost it's way; <br />It sounded like something, that once was gay <br /> <br />Something whose soul, was shattered apart: <br />Something was hunting it's broken heart. <br /> <br />It frightened children in their beds, <br />Whispered inaudible words, in men's heads. <br /> <br />It revealed it's presence, with two green lights <br />Reflective and deep, like the mermaid's eyes. <br /> <br />Around the lighthouse, the green lights glimmered <br />And often neath the water, shimmered; <br /> <br />Wherever the Captain happened to be, <br />Twas sure, the lights would there roam free. <br /> <br />The Captain never said one way or other, <br />If he thought it She; herself, in the Ether. <br /> <br />And when on his deathbed, the Captain lay, <br />Beside his window, the two lights stayed <br /> <br />Keeping a watch, on his mortal frame, <br />Till his breathing life had waned. <br /> <br />And the midnight that he breathed his last, <br />And all his earthly torments passed, <br /> <br />People swore of the strangest thing: <br />At quarter past two, heard a ship's bell ring, <br /> <br />And saw two shadows, one tall and thin, <br />And one swam in the water, leading one in, <br /> <br />Hand in hand, till they both submerged; <br />It's rumored now, that the Captain's Lord <br /> <br />Of the undersea; the whole blue ocean, <br />Because of one mermaids deathless devotion.<br /><br />Patti Masterman<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-haunting-of-the-mermaid/
