Restless in sea foam
the mermaids sing,
serenade
tangled in kelp
a summer song
cajoling sailors,
windrush them
into the surf
into ebb tide
into bitter brine
to be lost forever
in the ocean’s grip
immersed in tears
they sleep,
reposing at peace
deep in a seagull’s call.

Mikhail Vrubel
Today Merrell inspire us at dVeres with a number of rose names and challenge us to incorporate at least three of them into a poem.
May 5, 2026
You set the scene so well in those first 6 lines! Made use of the rose names very very well! I fear the mermaids have shapeshifted (or sound shifted?) into sirens!
yes, and they are a bit the same to me.
This is deliciously dark, Bjorn! The words from the list blend in and work so well together especially; “a summer song cajoling sailors, windrush them into the surf into ebb tide.”
I love a mermaid poem! 🥰
So many names seemed to point at mermaids
Yes! 🙂
We both wrote about mermaids, Björn! I love sounds in these lines:
‘windrush them
into the surf
into ebb tide
into bitter brine’
and the thought of ‘reposing at peace deep in a seagull’s call’.
Thank you… I will get around to read yours too.
The allure of the mermaid, has been the ruin of many a sailor’s fare. Great poem!
Thank you… and yes ot is the myth… (or maybe just blaming the women)
I expected you to write dark, and you did not disappoint, Björn! I should have remembered you like mermaids and these as Lillian said have become sirens. I like the tactile and sensory elements of the kelp and seagulls call.
I am more familiar with the darker mermaid (or siren)…
The sirens of Greek myth were bird-women, but I know people tend to think of sirens as mermaids.
read with sadness for the sailors “deep in sesgulls call”
much love
oo beware the sirens song, sailor. a salty one this.