Siren

Once, though far from now

I watched a girl with opal wing

Swam out, despite the waters

To the rock where she would sing

 

Hair wet and slick with salt

Eyes the mist before the moon

She sang me sweeping secrets

With lips that closed too soon

 

The water warmed around me

As notes from her mouth fell

That tongue dripped with heaven

Had a grasp that came from hell

 

Drawn in like the dark tides

By eyes that sparked like thunder

I felt the hand around my throat

And let her drag me under

 

And the orchestra strung it out

Between their bows and fingers

Whispered it to the floorboards

In rooms where sunlight lingers

 

Choirs cried it in high chambers

And the sea wept it to the shore

That once, my lungs drank water

For the sake of a siren’s call.