I must apologize for not posting yesterday. I did write two poems, but was so dissatisfied with them that I could not bring myself to post them unless I alter them first. Here, however, is a very long ballad that I worked on last year, and wrote the last half of today. I also wrote some children's poems with Esther and Peter that I'll likely post tomorrow.
The Vision of the Sea Day #17
The place where the mermaid births her young in their sacs translucent and thin
Is known as a stone on the ocean’s plateau where the currents branch like the winds
As they each emerge from her fishlike tail, they are caught on a watery breeze
Dispersed through depths from shore to shore: the people of the seas
A maiden of the watery breed on the rock was writhing in pain
Her merman stayed near her to comfort his bride with a seaweed fixed in his mane
And without a thought to his helpless young being taken without memory
He relished thoughts of wand’ring free: a Father of the sea
Each sac was designed to hold its pearl until fully formed was the sprite
Who sprung from the cage with a workable tail and a pair of eyes new and bright
But a little sac fell upon a reef where the polyps waved elegantly
And a girl emerged with clouded eyes, all darkness was the sea
Her hesitant hands were cold as ice and she knew not what she should do
Her weakness was such that survival depended on sight to hunt for her food
So her lovely tail of a sea foam green hanging limp at her silent decree
She nestled in the coral, crying at the empty sea
‘Twas Gelanaire sweet who found her there sleeping near a grotto dim
Who took hold her shoulder and whispered a word so with energy she’d swim
And the gentle sound granted hope to heart beating ever more quiet and weak
She rose to meet the angel who could help her brave the sea.
Good Gelanaire stayed a day or two to assist the mermaid frail
The first that she did was decipher the name inscribed on her delicate tail
“You’re Aeness,” she breathed to the waiting girl, and her ear quivered sensitively
She poured her thanks on Gelenaire, the Mother of the sea
The seasons passed by with little change for the mermaid trapped in the dark
In the mystery of her grotto as free from the light as free from the shark
But round her cave oozed the bubbling springs that were warm and nurturing
And their minerals kindled beauty in the ever giving sea
At her sparkling voice the cautious grasses trembled and unfurled,
In the waters around her perch the sea worms frolicking all uncurled
And the springs dried up at the moment she lifted her lonely melody
So the heaviest depths were silent for the Siren of the sea
A few weakly rays of sun trickled down and rippled upon her hair
When a merman despondently seeking the deep was astonished to find here there
Her beauty bewitched his aching heart and he gestured in manner friendly
He could not do more, for he had no voice when born into the sea
He made his approach with a sudden foreboding until they were face to face
And the dusk on her eyes in the uncanny depth made him distance himself from her gaze
And his head sinking lower with all the force that the realization could be
He swore he would have none but her if it cost him all the sea
The merman took leave of Aness unaware, and dove far beyond any light
But he felt for the path only whispered about, and he followed it with little fright
When finally he reached the crevices great that caused so many to flee
He plunged within to beg a gift, a seeker of the sea
What happened within those blackest cracks is impossible to expose
He pleaded for freely given voice from the creature that laid in repose
The being would never aid for good, and demanded a mischievous fee
The desperate merman sealed the trade with the terror of the sea
He could not but shout, on climbing up, to play with his marvelous voice
It startled Anness, who awoke from a dream with a similar cause to rejoice
Her eyes were bright and her grotto defined and she turned about wonderingly
A world of color opened in the cold mysterious sea
He approached in delight as he heard the girl swimming round to inspect the terrain
“I’m Nisor,” he called out and she fled at the sight of a stranger creature made plain
Overwhelmed by a sense she’d never known, she opened her lips to scream
But no sound came forth, for he had made her silent as the sea
Now Nisor came near for to claim his prize, trusting in his new charm and fine look
And what, he had reasoned, would be cause for dismay? It was only a voice that he took
But his eyes were dim, and he held out his hand, speaking slightly more hesitantly
He told of his love from the moment he viewed a vision of the sea
Anness battled terror for all that was new, from this merman or close flapping ray
And she left him still using his stolen voice to seek comfort wherever she may
And Nisor did not realize she’d gone until it was too late to secure his dream
They both drifted separate and miserable in the cruel and heartless sea
The grasses around her grotto have wilted and bend to the current’s will
The little, remembering dwellers mourn for her missing music still
And all for an unsolicited trade was born this great tragedy:
She aches with song but cannot sing her vision of the sea