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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE MERMAIDEN by EDWARD ROBERT BULWER-LYTTON

Poet Analysis

First Line: HE WAS A PRINCE WITH GOLDEN HAIR
Last Line: IN THAT PALACE BESIDE THE SEA.
Subject(s): MERMAIDS & MERMEN;

HE was a Prince with golden hair
(In a palace beside the sea),
And I but a poor Mermaiden, --
And how should he care for me?

Last summer I came, in the long blue nights,
To sit in the cool sea-caves:
Last summer he came to count the stars
From his terrace above the waves.

There's nothing so fair in the sea down there
As the light on his golden tresses:
There's nothing so sweet as his voice: ah, nothing
So warm as the warmth of his kisses!

I could not help but love him, love him,
Till my love grew pain to me.
And to-morrow he weds the Princess
In that palace beside the sea.



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