The book of British ballads . rom the lucid sea,Does no warm blood their currents fill; No heart-pulse riot, wild and free,To joy, to loves delirious thrill? Though all the splendour of the seaAround thy faultless beauty shine, That heart that riots wild and free,Can hold no sympathy with mine. These sparkling eyes, so wild and gay,They swim not in the light of love : The beauteous Maid of Colonsay, Her eyes are milder than the dove! Even now, within the lonely isle, Her eyes are dim with tears for me; And canst thou think that siren smileCan lure my soul to dwell with thee V An oozy film her
The book of British ballads . rom the lucid sea,Does no warm blood their currents fill; No heart-pulse riot, wild and free,To joy, to loves delirious thrill? Though all the splendour of the seaAround thy faultless beauty shine, That heart that riots wild and free,Can hold no sympathy with mine. These sparkling eyes, so wild and gay,They swim not in the light of love : The beauteous Maid of Colonsay, Her eyes are milder than the dove! Even now, within the lonely isle, Her eyes are dim with tears for me; And canst thou think that siren smileCan lure my soul to dwell with thee V An oozy film her limbs oerspread ; Unfolds in length her scaly train :She tossed, in proud disdain, her head, And lashed, with webbed fin, the main. Dwell here alone ! the mermaid cried, And view far off the sea-nymphs play; Thy prison wall, the azure tide, Shall bar thy steps from Colonsay. Wheneer, like Oceans scaly brood,I cleave with rapid fin, the wave, Far from the daughter of the flood,Conceal thee in this coral cave. Franklin del. 203. I feel my former soul return; It kindles at thy cold disdain :And has a mortal dared to spurn A daughter of the foamy main V She fled ; around the crystal cave The rolling waves resume their road ; On the broad portal idly rave, But enter not the nymphs abode. And many a weary night went by, As in the lonely cave he lay ;And many a sun rolled through the sky, And poured its beams on Colonsay. And oft, beneath the silver moon,He heard afar the mermaid sing, And oft, to many a melting tune, The shell-formed lyres of ocean ring. And when the moon went down the sky,Still rose, in dreams, his native plain, And oft he thought his love was by, And charmed him with some tender strain. And heart-sick, oft he waked to weep, When ceased that voice of silver sound ; And thought to plunge him in the deep,That walled his crystal cavern round. But still the ring of ruby red, Retained its vivid crimson hue ; And each despairing accent fled,To find his gentle love so true
Size: 1155px × 2162px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, call, mermaids, sirens, sirenscall, sirensofthesea
