Written on Board the Andromeda, off the Coast of Brazil, 1823.
OUR vessel had left the Scottish strand
On her voyage to a distant and desert land;
And the moonbeam was kissing her milk-white sail
As it flaunted aloft in the dying gale.
When, lo! as I sat on the deck all alone,
And mused on the days and the years that were gone,
A Mermaiden’s voice came soft on my ear,
And I listened awhile her song to hear.
And ay, as she sung, her doleful song
Came mingled with music the breezes along;
For she touched her harp with her Syren hand
Like an Elfin minstrel from fairy land.
“The storm is hushed and the moon on high
Sails beauteous and bright in the azure sky,
But the thunder-cloud shall gather soon
And envelop in darkness the silver moon.
“And yon gallant ship with her streamers so gay
Shall sink in the deep sea for ever and ay;
And many a fathom beneath the wave
Shall her sailors sleep in their watery grave.
“Then watchful mariner leave thy helm,
For soon shall the surge thy vessel o’erwhelm,
And thou shalt sleep to-morrow with me
Adown in the depths of the raging sea.
“Sailor, rest, for thy toils are o’er!
Dream’st thou of home and thy native shore?
Ah! never again shalt thou see the sun
Rise over the mountains of Caledon.
“Captain, thy canvas is all unfurled,
And thou art bound to the nether world;
The Mermaiden’s daughter shall be thy bride
To-morrow beneath the raging tide.”
She ceased, but the echoes still seem to prolong
The last wild notes of her Syren song,
‘Till I was aroused from her fairy spell
By the sound of the sailor’s midnight bell.
(John Dunmore Lang)
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Based on Topics: World Poems, Death & Dying Poems, Dreams Poems, Home Poems, Anger Poems, Silver Poems, Daughters PoemsBased on Keywords: andromeda, mermaiden, caledon