She knelt in the sand at the ocean’s edge,
And the wind was in her hair.
Her eyes the color of the blue salt sky,
Her features calm and fair.
And far across the ocean’s span,
She looked; and saw a star

Embroidered on a velvet sheet
That twinkled from afar.
The star was mirrored in her eyes-
And I chanced to spy her there.
For a moment she was still and calm,
‘Til the wind blew in her hair.
She turned and looked at me, and then
She leaped into the sea.
And rolling in the foamy waves,
She crooned a song to me.
Your land is the land of the dry and hard,
League after dusty league-
Are the happiest found on the stony land,
Or in the bosom of the open sea?
Is that where the dolphins leap so free,
Where the turtles glide and fly?
Have you ever bowed to the ocean’s breeze,
Or danced ‘neath a blue salt sky?
And is that where the sea oats wave in the wind?
Is that where the seagulls cry?
Have you ever fled from the tiger shark’s fin,
Or danced ‘neath a blue salt sky?
Or danced ‘neath a blue salt sky, my love,
Or danced ‘neath a blue salt sky-
Have you ever left your waterless world
To dance ‘neath a blue salt sky?
So follow, my love, to the blue salt sky!
To the ocean’s depths so sweet!
Follow, follow, and you too shall be
The child of the open sea!
She sang as she floated in the brine,
And, succumbing to her spell,
I stumbled towards the ocean’s shore-
But then I tripped and fell.
I tripped and fell on the sandy dunes-
Her song hung in the air
The haunting music of the sea-
I stood to follow her.
Twas then I spied the chimney-smoke
From my chimney beyond the dunes
And the homely sight, and the homely scent
Drowned out the mermaid’s tune.
Though the sea be wide, though the sea be fair
Could I bear to leave my home?
And what of family, and my friends-
Could I leave them thus alone?
My little house upon the shore-
Could I bear to leave its walls?
Could I trade my peaceful life on land
To heed the ocean’s call?
She met my eyes and she knew my mind-
She laughed and splashed the sea.
With a plunge, with a lunge, she met the foam
And leaped away to sea.
I trudged back to my humble home-
A fisher’s house, and poor-
Yet though ‘twas poor, I would not give
It up for all the world.
My wife had lit the evening fire
And happily received me
Though I told her of the mermaid’s song,
She would not believe me.
But my window opened to the beach,
And I listened all night long
To the sound of crashing waves, and in them,
The mermaid’s haunting song.