The Merman

First printed in 1830.

1
  Who would be
  A merman bold,
  Sitting alone,
  Singing alone
  Under the sea,
  With a crown of gold,
  On a throne?

2
  I would be a merman bold;
  I would sit and sing the whole of the day;
  I would fill the sea-halls with a voice of power;
  But at night I would roam abroad and play
  With the mermaids in and out of the rocks,
  Dressing their hair with the white sea-flower;
  And holding them back by their flowing locks
  I would kiss them often under the sea,
  And kiss them again till they kiss'd me
  Laughingly, laughingly;
  And then we would wander away, away
  To the pale-green sea-groves straight and high,
  Chasing each other merrily.

3
  There would be neither moon nor star;
  But the wave would make music above us afar--
  Low thunder and light in the magic night--
  Neither moon nor star.
  We would call aloud in the dreamy dells,
  Call to each other and whoop and cry
  All night, merrily, merrily;
  They would pelt me with starry spangles and shells,
  Laughing and clapping their hands between,
  All night, merrily, merrily:
  But I would throw to them back in mine
  Turkis and agate and almondine: [1]
  Then leaping out upon them unseen
  I would kiss them often under the sea,
  And kiss them again till they kiss'd me
  Laughingly, laughingly.
  Oh! what a happy life were mine
  Under the hollow-hung ocean green!
  Soft are the moss-beds under the sea;
  We would live merrily, merrily.

[Foootnote 1: Almondine. This should be "almandine," the word probably being a corruption of alabandina, a gem so called because found at Alabanda in Caria; it is a garnet of a violet or amethystine tint. 'Cf.' Browning, 'Fefine at the Fair', xv., "that string of mock-turquoise, these 'almandines' of glass".]