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THE MERMAID OF ZENNOR.

    “Fisher hast thou seen the mermaid combing her hair, yellow as gold, by the noontide
sun, at the edge of the water?”

emph rend=”indent”>“I have seen the fair mermaid: I have also heard her singing her songs plaintive
as the waves.”

— Breton Ballad.

    Come! for the night and the wind are here,
                        And I am here:
    Hard is your heart, but soft my arms,
                        And soft the sea,—
                                                                                                Come!

    O human man, leave humanity
                        For these deeper depths:
    Lean from the land, O human love,
                        And come to me,—
                                                                                                Come!

    My bright hair burns, and the waves burn,
                        And my lips burn:
    Strange is your heart, and strange the land,
                        And life is strange,—
                                                                                                Come!

    Warm is the wind, and warmer the waves,
                        And my heart is warm:
    Cold is your heart, my body cold,
                        And death is cold,—
                                                                                                Come!

                                                                        L. C. Duncombe Jewell.

Written for the Psaltery,
    10 Mis Merh,
            1903.

MLA citation:

Duncombe-Jewell, L.C. “The Mermaid of Zennor,” The Green Sheaf, No. 6, 1903, p. 3. Green Sheaf Digital Edition, edited by Lorraine Janzen Kooistra, Yellow Nineties 2.0, Toronto Metropolitan University Centre for Digital Humanities, 2022. https://1890s.ca/GSV6-duncombe-jewell-mermaid/