Maidens of the Sea

Far along the riverbank, the sea-maids

strain helplessly in the saltless waters…

their eyes as pale candlelight and nightshades,

they are the disdainful ocean daughters.

Their silky fins and luminescent scales

are tinted with the green of the deep sea,

any jewel in comparison pales…

though their sweet lips and tongues glimmer whitely.

They are trapped in the eddying of streams,

though they have crested far mightier waves…

they the faces seen in deep, endless dreams,

are destined here for unknown, unmarked graves.

For though they are born of a higher life,

they’ll not survive our sweet, everyday strife.