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Songs of Sea and Sail

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SONGS OF SEA AND SAIL THOMAS FLEMING DAY TO THOSE WHO LOVE THE SEA AND ITS SHIPS. <hr class="chap" /> <h2>THE MERMAID'S SONG.</h2> Oh, what comes flowing over the sea In the hush of the evening's cool? It is a mermaid singing to me As she sits in a silver pool. As she sits in a silver pool and sings Of the world I never shall see, Where the dulse-weed clings, And the star-fish rings The red anemone; The world which lies Where human eyes Are never allowed to see The gold and gems And fluted stems Of the crimson coral tree— [Pg 10] Is that what she sings to me? She is haunting and holding my heart with a strain, Where joy lies asleep in the shadow of pain; And the world that is under the sea Is spreading its pleasures and treasures to gain The love that lies dormant in me— The love that I bear for the sea, For the secret and sorrowful sea; Is luring my feet from the gray land again And filling my soul with the scent of the main, The sound and the scent of the sea; And the speech of the siren is spoken in vain, For that mermaid is singing to me Of the world that is under the sea; And the love that I bear for the ocean again, For the mournful and mutable sea, Has taken possession of me: My heart is enmeshed in the mystical strain That mermaid is singing to me [Pg 11] Of the world that lies under the sea. Ah, hark again! In a sadder strain She is singing a song to me— A song of the unseen sea; She is singing of ships whose wrecks have lain For ages in the sea, In the depths of the sunless sea; And her voice is soft with a thought of the pain That song is giving to me. A thought that I thought forever had lain In the depths of the soundless sea Is searching my soul in that mermaid's strain And bringing a sorrow to me From the world that is under the sea. For I have a friend whose bones have lain For ages in the sea, (For so it seems to me), And her song has opened that wound again And brought back a sorrow to me— [Pg 12] From the depths of the endless sea. A grief that is grieving my life again, A thought that I thought, forever had lain, And never come back to me, Is searching my soul in that mermaid's strain And bringing a sorrow to me From the world that lies under the sea. Oh, what comes flowing over the sea In the hush of the evening's cool? It is a mermaid singing to me As she sits in a silver pool. [Pg 13] <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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