The
Mermaid
Would
the sailors rather not have died?
Would
they want to live without the maids
Of
the sea, those concubines of their
Selfsame
master? The men by the sea
Taken
by the sea lived, yet for the last
Did
they hate, did they love? The polar
Fear
and joy mixed in the ocean to some
Recipe
of eternal torment taken,
The
elixir of life, to spare from death
And
deliver to dull life those who drink.