Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, A BESTIARY: THE SIRENS, by ANONYMOUS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

A BESTIARY: THE SIRENS, by                    
First Line: "I would have ye know, in the sea"
Last Line: "and by lying, destroy thy soul"
Subject(s): Mermaids & Mermen


I WOULD have ye know, in the sea
Full many a marvel there be,
There is one is y'clept Mermaid,
That is like to a maiden made
In body, and eke in breast,
But it is not so with the rest;
From the navel down is she
Other than man to see,
But the form of a fish doth show
With fins that from out her grow.
This wonder her home doth keep
In treacherous parts of the deep,
And there, on the whirlpool's brink,
She maketh the ship to sink,
And doth scathe to the sailor bring.
Merrily doth she sing,
And many voices hath she,
Diverse and shrill they be,
And evil are all verilie;
For the shipmen forget to steer
Whenever her voice they hear,
But a slumber doth them o'ertake,
They sleep, and too late they wake,
The ship sinks with its folk, I ween,
And never again is seen.
But he who is wise and ware
Will turn again from her snare,
And oft he escapeth still
From the breast that would do him ill.
Of the marvel he hath been told --
Now this creature strange to behold,
Half man, and half fish, it is
Some lesson for us, I wis.

Significatio

Now in many a man, I ween,
The meaning of this is seen,
Without, do they show lamb's-skin,
But they be very wolves within;
They speak full righteouslie,
But their deeds, they wicked be;
Their deeds, they accord but ill
With what their mouth speaketh still.
Thus two-fold, I trow, their mood,
They are ready to swear by the Rood,
By the Sun, and eke by the Moon,
And yet do they lie eftsoon.
Thus with what they sing and they say
Do they many a man betray,
Of thy goods by treason take toll,
And by lying, destroy thy soul.





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