She rose from the tide like a secret
unearthed,
hair tangled with wreckage and weed,
and eyes lit with the pale fire of distant storms.
The sailors first felt
her to be a miracle, before
they proclaimed
mermaids as nothing more than a curse.
They did not see the salt in her veins,
how it burned when they spoke
of land, of hearths
and harvests,
of promises that dry out in daylight.
She listened; head tilted like a gull
on the wind,
but her silence wasn’t surrender—
rather it was the pull of darker currents
twisting through her blood.
Her face held the hush of forgotten tides,
cheekbones carved by moonlit currents,
lips tinted with the bruises of lost storms,
and eyes—
eyes like deepwater glass,
reflecting every ship she ever dragged under.
The sea stitched her bones together,
whispered in the hollow of her throat,
taught her how to coerce men
into forgetting
why they ever wanted to return.
Now she drifts through shipwreck dreams,
where lanterns float in brine-lit twilight,
and laughter curls
like smoke in the deep— she hums lullabies
that taste of rust and waits
for the next soul to sleep too close.
There is salt in her veins, sweet as longing,
sharp as regret—
a spell of slow unraveling,
delivered in a voice too lovely to resist.
Photo credits: Pinterest
For my mermaid series this year during Napowrimo/April Poem-a-Day Challenge 💙
Posted for Open Link Night #382 (+Live) @dVerse Poets Pub
26 Responses
Wonderful, this is one of my favorites ever, she sounds like a truly terrifying lady, with her lust for pulling the ships under…
Thank you so much, Bjorn 😀 I wanted to try and explore darker, mythical themes, so glad you enjoyed it 💄❤️
Sanaa,
The voice of this poem is as seductive and alluring as the siren herself. I love how you weave myth and magic together to create this character “salt in her veins, sweet as longing,
sharp as regret—”
Just two of the lines I absolutely loved: “of promises that dry out in daylight”and
“she hums lullabies
that taste of rust and waits”
Thank you so much, Dora 😀 so glad you liked it 💄❤️
I love the “head tilted like a gull” and the final stanza. Wonderful.
Thank you so much, Shay 😀 so glad you enjoyed it 💄❤️
this is *so* good, Sanaa ~
Thank you so much, M 😀 so glad the poem resonated with you 💄❤️
Love specially how you describe her face and eyes. Gorgeous writing. Good luck with the daily writing for this month.
Thank you so much, Grace 😀 so glad you liked it 💄❤️
I’m a sucker for mermaid poems, Sanaa, and, as soon as I read the opening lines, I knew I would fall in love with this poem. I love the image of her ‘head tilted like a gull on the wind’, felt the ‘pull of darker currents’ and the sea stitching her bones together, and heard the whispering in the hollow of her throat. These lines are particularly stunning:
‘Her face held the hush of forgotten tides,
cheekbones carved by moonlit currents,
lips tinted with the bruises of lost storms,
and eyes—
eyes like deepwater glass,
reflecting every ship she ever dragged under.’
Thank you so much, Kim 😍 so glad you enjoyed it 💄❤️
You nailed the mermaid myth in all of it salty yearning wet fire.
Thank you so much, Brendan 😀 so glad the poem resonated with you 💄❤️
Sanaa, this is such a poignant poem which explains the mermaid’s destructive actions in terms of unrequitable longing for the land life and loves she will never be able to know…
Masterful and compassionate!
Thank you so much, Andrew 😀 so glad you liked it 💄❤️
HI Sanaa, this is a wonderful poem about the myth of the sirens.
Thank you so much, Robbie 😀 so glad you enjoyed it 💄❤️
I love how you tell the tale from the siren’s point of view. She’s a spooky lady.
Thank you so much, Nolcha 😀 so good to see you 💄❤️
This poem is dangerous!…and proves the power of words is as strong as the nature of the sirene described.
The closing lines are like the careful stitching back of a mysterious, dark existence revealed…intense verse.
Thank you so much, Ain 😀 so glad the poem resonated with you 💄❤️
This is perfection, and I agree with Dora you nailed the seduction so that even as you are telling us she’s going to be ruin we are leaning in closer, falling into the deep, becoming the ruin. Magnificent!
Thank you so much, Anna 😀 so glad you enjoyed it 💄❤️
your story-telling is top-notch, Sanaa.
Thank you so much, M 😀 so glad you liked it 💄❤️