the lament

He awakes still lost in dream,

A haunting melody resides

In his Morpheus-numbed brain – 

Lost and aching to return.

A siren’s call, he knows it well,

The sweet and tender words she cries.

He knows he should not list’ so well – 

He cannot wring truth from lies.

The sky alights with dawn-bright shades

And fire catches on the trees

As he gazes on her tranquil face – 

Breathes deep the salty air.

“Ah me!” he cries with crashing waves,

“My heart, it aches for you

Though I know I should not stray – 

Your song tempts me from shore.”

His voice is frantic as he calls the crew,

The mariners twain and he no captain.

They could not wait a second more – 

She was calling them to her side.

Poseidon’s mistress sighs and sprawls,

Her dazzling arms spread to welcome

Awaiting his loving embrace –

Stealing every breath of life he dares.

“My love, my sweet, come now to me,”

She sighs ‘neath dusky eyes,

“And stay upon my swells awhile – 

Taste my loving words.”

The bark – Don Juan – is on its course,

Too late now to turn for home,

And there he stands, clung to mast – 

She sings to him, and how!

She lures him with brilliant smile,

Which rots beneath the fish bones

And skulls of lovers past – 

Seductress hidden in her pearly raiment.

Majestic heart and tragic past,

Eternal damnation for her work,

Enslaved by Fate, rejected by Heaven – 

Doomed, chained to Neptune’s side.

The ship sails on, though waves toss,

And men ashore would scarce proceed

To sail in such a vein – 

But he knows she lies awaiting.

And so the gods of wind and light,

His guardians ashore,

Bear messages to him –

But he knows no thunderclap,

No lightning strike, no wave,

For all engraved upon his mind

Is his Enchantress, his beloved,

Calling out to him, reaching for him,

Fingers clutching, heart wrenching.

The wind, it howls, and cries for him,

Begs to reconsider the chart,

Yet on he drifts, onwards, onwards – 

His temptress seeks him still.

Poseidon lurks and sees him,

Drawing closer to his cherished prize,

His temper rises, crescendos – 

Mortals pay for impudence.

The stormy patience of a god tested by men,

Philanderers too near his mistress,

Caressing her, arousing passions – 

His rage will illuminate the brazen Casanova.

Endless ripples intertwine,

Interrupt, interchange,

Crashing, wild and bright – 

Sweep away dreams of safety.

The sky darkens, tide rises,

The ship, it rocks and sways.

He holds tighter to the mast – 

No man, no god, can keep him from her.

Neverending blue rises and falls,

Inhaling and collapsing on itself,

Rising up again in furious heights – 

Impossible to conquer.

Yet still he stands, through mist and tide,

Clasping the mast to his breast

As a dying man clutches his soul – 

Desperate and despairing.

Swelling, breaking, crashing louder,

Foam desperate to escape

Steals the stars’ glow – 

Moonlight sonata plays on and on.

“My love, my sweet, you come to me,”

She whispers though her husband’s near.

“Come softly, softly, my lover – 

Let me touch your skin.”

“Ah, me!” he cries into the wind,

The growing tempest at the prow,

“Circe calls me to her side – 

Who am I to deny her witchcraft?”

The vessel jolts against the deep,

A god’s wrath so close at hand,

And yet he watches from the yard – 

Long since his day’s been named.

His tempestuous mistress,

Coral lips the Bard so loved,

Tangled waves of seaweed – 

Her fingers clutching,

Her heart made of arctic tides.

Her arms are wide,

Her breath enticing,

Her words exciting,

Her eyes enchanting.

Poseidon’s steeds charge forth,

Running side by side

And storming the ship – 

A power no man can see, outlive.

The vessel seized by forceful hands,

Taken captive by watery sentries.

A fleeting moment – 

Both seamen lost to eternity.

But there he stands,

His feet still aboard

Until his Calypso calls his name – 

He awaits her quiet plea.

“Enchantress,” he cries,

“Seductress, bewitching,

Why will you not come for me – 

I, your own Ulysses?”

She sighs upon her craggy bed,

Already weary of his voice,

Before she says, “You – 

Who are you to speak so to me?”

Betrayal washes over him,

The spray bitter, stinging

In his open eyes – 

He takes one last breath of her.

“Duplicitous creature!” he cries,

His heart wrung of all its fire,

“You break faith with me – 

And so my oath with you is split.”

With Samson’s tears,

He tastes the Judas kiss.

His Amphitrite turned Delilah – 

He’ll find no rest here now.

The waves crash against themselves,

Shatter peace upon the shore,

And stones retreat from such ire – 

Rocks made human by boundless treachery.

His heart a burden,

His soul another weight of thousands,

He sighs his last – 

His eyes closing before the end.

“Ah, me,” he murmurs,

His hand slipping from the lines,

“I have been undone – 

She may keep my bones.”

She dreamed herself unmoored,

Untouched by ardent heart,

Yet his words stir her soul – 

She cannot forgo her troth.

His open arms outspread,

She takes him to her breast –

But gently, softly – he is hers.

Breathe, my darling,

Softer now, drifting.

A soundless barrow,

His lover’s midnight citadel,

Shall prove his final cradle – 

His body’s long-awaited rest.

But as he lays upon her heart,

Beating toward the sand,

She knows he cannot stay – 

Her arms must bear one more task.

She sweeps him into her embrace,

Carries him toward his land,

Away from her master’s kingdom – 

He must return.

Mourning her lover’s dying breath,

She surges to the strand

And relinquishes him to Ceres’ steps – 

He is home once more.

They find his mortality

Run aground amidst the seashells

And the quiet lamentations of her heart – 

Endless beauty abandoned at the littoral.