| Samuel Kettell, ed. Specimens of American Poetry. 1829. | | | | The Mermaid’s Song | | By Hannah F. Gould (1789–1865) |
| | | COME, 1 mariner, down in the deep with me, | |
| And hide thee under the wave— | |
| For I have a bed of coral for thee; | |
| And quiet and sound shall thy slumbers be | |
| In a cell in the Mermaid’s cave. | 5 |
| |
| On a pillow of pearls thine eye shall sleep, | |
| And nothing disturb thee there; | |
| The fishes their silent vigils shall keep— | |
| There shall be no grass thy grave to sweep | |
| But the silk of the Mermaid’s hair. | 10 |
| |
| And she who is waiting with cheek so pale, | |
| As the tempest and ocean roar; | |
| And weeps when she hears the menacing gale, | |
| Or sighs to behold her mariner’s sail | |
| Come whitening up to the shore. | 15 |
| |
| She has not long to linger for thee;— | |
| Her sorrows shall soon be o’er; | |
| For, the cord shall be broke and the prisoner free, | |
| Her eye shall close; and her dreams will be | |
| So sweet she will wake no more! | 20 |
| | | Note 1. Hannah Flagg Gould is of Newburyport. Miss Gould’s poems have been written generally for the newspapers of Newburyport and Boston. [back] | | |
|
|
|
