Sea Woman

 

I saw her first when beaching my boat,

Tired eyes see strange sights.

 

Sun glinting in golden locks

That rippled like a neap tide,

Rivulets of salt-soaked water

Running down sun-ripened skin,

Rope-calloused hands itching

To caress her bare back.

 

Then the heart-stop shock

As my eyes ran their downward course:

No lissom legs on my mysterious marine maid;

Instead a muscular mass

of shimmering,silvered scales.

 

And then that symphonic siren sound,

Calling and clutching

and capturing my soul,

 

 

Pulling my hapless heart

From its mundane moorings,

And casting me adrift

In the wide sea of eternity.