The Sea Siren

Last night I remembered how her song had once tugged at my soul.

I whispered her name softly I wondered if she heard me at all?

I remembered the caress of the sea breeze, as it felt that summer night.

I remembered the glow of moonlight as it reflected off the calm sea.

I remembered the sounds of the waves rushing in, the smell of the salt refreshing me.

It was like awakening in a lover's dream, no fears to face, only the sea.

In so many dreams I remember that night, tho' none ever as beautiful or as serene.

I remembered her legend, cursed to lure men out to sea.

Allowing them to drown in a sea born of their own misery.

I was told that her beauty could make me weep, her song would steal my soul.

Never was I told of the secret she keeps, the story behind it all.

I heard her singing far from shore her song touched my heart, I wanted more.

Into the waves I went in search of this dream, this so called siren of the sea.

Her song was so beautiful I had started to cry,

and, although I could hear the melody, well, the words were lost to me.

I saw her singing in the distance, was she a dream or a memory?

I only knew I wanted to embrace her, seduce her, the same way her song had done to me.

At once and without any warning I started to hear something far beyond her melody.

I stopped and listened with my heart to something my ears refused to hear.

I listened carefully to every word, words that only my heart could have heard.

Swimming slowly to her I said only two words "I understand" was all she heard.

She looked down at me sadly, I was touched down to my soul.

I still wanted to touch her, love her, but the truth was still to be told.

Her song was her history, forever young, forever old, often whispered but never told.

"I was once the daughter of Lord Neptune..."she said softly, a tear in her eye.

"I was both unkind and cold all,  I believed I was above them.

I thought only about my beauty never the truth behind it all.

You see I had used my charms  to destroy even the most noble, of all.

I discarded men at my pleasure there was always another I could hold.

Then came the day I awaken Zeus's displeasure..." She didn't have to say another word but something within me had drawn her close,

perhaps it was the loneliness we both had known.

Her face was flushed with a sadness I could really understand.

You see I known it too well, it once had taken me by hand.

Almost like whisper, she spoke "He cursed me to spend all of eternity at sea

to lure not only the foolish but the proud to their misery.

Until the day someone would care for me and not for the beauty they could see."

I knew then the moment was passing, we had come full circle at last.

For what ever had first drew me to her was now a part of the past.

My eyes were never so open, nor my mind ever so clear.

For I saw her stripped of her beauty and vanity, I saw only a reflection of myself.

Someone who was just perhaps as lost and alone and, again, I said "I understand."

There was no doubt in my mind we may have been lovers if only the faiths were more kind. Her eyes twinkled, her skin glistened, as her body began to glow

and then I saw her fade, her smile was the last thing I saw, her voice echoed in my mind.

I had not only set her free from her curse but I began to find a new way of life.

Never again would my heart believe only in what my eyes perceived,

I owed that much to the siren of the sea.