The Ballad of the Mermaid's Share
On clifftop sands,
Young Molly stands,
A spyglass to her eye.
With hopeful gaze,
She softly prays
Her pa’s ship will pass by.
Beyond the Fleet,
Where two seas meet
Around the Portland Bill,
The sharkskin breeze
Breeds lethal seas
That frighten sailors still.
A wind-wracked place,
The Portland Race
Can sink a ship at will.
One trawler braves
The fearsome waves,
Her lobster pots to fill.
And on her bow,
The Captain proud
Recalls his daughter's plea:
"Don't sail today,
No, pa please stay,
Don't go no more to sea!
Last night I dreamtÂ
The waters rent
And pulled your trawler down.
And from the Main
The Mermaid came
And sang and watched you drown."
"Why, Molly dear
You need not fear!"
The Captain deftly lied.
"Since I was three
I've worked the sea,
Lord Neptune's on my side.
I've trawled the deep
Seen Dolphin's leap,
I've paid the Mermaid's share!
This evening, if
You scale the cliff
I'll wave to you up there."
Upon the cliff,
Young Moll stands stiff
Her spyglass at her side.
She shades her gaze
From low sun rays
That light the evening tide.
With squinting eyes,
A ship she spies
In peril on the sea.
Her raised spyglass
Reveals the mast
And rudder broken free.
The crew of two
Kick off their shoes
And dive into the sea.
Their lives to save
As rising waves
The old ship's fate decree.
The Captain now
Grips hold the bow
And offers up a prayer.
He knows their fate
But it's too late
To pay the Mermaid's share.
A thund’rous crash:
White horses dash
The Captain overboard.
He gasps for breath
And prays that Death
Comes quickly for them all.
The briny cold
Grasps at his soul,
No help can hear his screams.
A haunting soundÂ
Wails to the drowned,
A song from Mermaid dreams:
"I sing to you,
A captain who
Ignored me once before.
You cast your net,
Repay the debtÂ
You owe to sea and shore.
You trawled the sea
Since you were three,
You stole my bounty fair!
But in your greed
You saw no need
To pay the Mermaid's share.
You sailors three,
You lied to me
And lied to kin on shore.
And for that sin,
With me you'll swim
Down here forever more!"
On clifftops steep,
Young Molly weeps
For loss beyond repair.
And vows her sons,
In years to come,
Will pay the Mermaid's share.Â
About the Poet
Greg Shorter grew up in the Westcountry of the British Isles. Inspiration for this ballad comes from that landscape and the grey sea that laps at it. These days, he lives and writes for a living in flat and fertile East Anglia. He blogs under the pseudonym Finnginn.