MERMAIDS IN MUSIC - Music listings + featured CD

by Marc Prudhon

From his childhood to young manhood, there was a burning. Within his heart and his soul, an emptiness, a yearning. He knew not his father, and knew not his mother had lied. When all of his life, She told him , his father had died.

"Twas a storm at sea that took him, so handsome, so dear. So promise me, my son, stay out of and never go near. The oceans and seas, whose call your father well knew, I lost him to it, my darling, I cannot also lose you.

So in the years till his manhood, that promise he did keep. Till came the time, his mother passed quietly in her sleep. The farm, the house, All that he owned was gathered and sold. He went to the coast, now all bereft, his heart grown cold.

His soul sealed off from the world, as if behind great bars. He jeered at those who told of Sirens 'neath' the stars. "They surface in summer, on the rocks, on nights of no moon. Calling for something unknown, singing men to their doom.

He said,'' Next moonless night, my small boat sets sail with the tide. Anchor by the rocks, sail back in the morn, and prove you all lied. As he arrived, dropped his anchor and began to take his sail down. There came to his spirit and his ears, a haunting beautiful sound.

With none on shore he loved, he did not care to continue alive. He answered that song, stripped off his clothes, left the boat in a dive. His mother had warned, told him 'The sea is your bane" When he entered that ocean, his body felt great pain.

Naked as a child once again, heeding that call full of charms. Yet the sea seemed to welcome him, with warm loving arms. He knew his empty boat would be found, on some future morn. In the sea now, he felt his body change, begin to transform.

Feeling no desire to surface, breathe and go back to the air. He saw four figures in the water, with long flowing hair. He saw the sirens and the mermaids, his souls' no longer torn. They told him,'' We have called out to you since the day you were born.

Coming on nights, of no moon, from springtime till fall. Hoping one day, you would answer our call Your mother laid with a merman, years ago on the shore. A man found them and killed him, you're the child that she bore.

Tho you may live on the land, your soul would never be free. Till finally comes the day, when you've returned to the sea. The tides, the ocean, the waves edged with bright foam. He looked around at these, and knew he'd come home.

He swims with the mermaids and the sirens, forever set free. Men name him in myth and legend, Call him Selkie Tho sailors get near the rocks, when the winds are too strong. But no one sees any mermaids, or hears the sirens sweet song.

Merman by Raine Szramski