3 – Siren Sisters

Do not sing,
my sister tells me
Do not sing
for they will hear you
and wreck themselves on the shore
Blaming your song
voice
beauty
for their misfortune
Blaming us, always us
and never their own one-track, lustful, fragile minds.

But we have always sung, I say
Always and forever
Or what are we?
Our mother and her mother
and her mother too
all the way to back to the Sea herself
We are Melody and Harmony
and you have sung in your time
I have heard you, my sister

But still, do not sing,
says she.
Do not sing, for they will jump into the water
Some swallowed at once
Others pushed by wave or pulled by current
Down to their death
or onto sharp rocks
or back to the ship
And if their ship survives,
if    if    if
They will tell their friends family enemies species
“It was the Sirens made us do it,
made our brothers drown,
made us steer too near the shallows,
the shoal,
the shore
They are deadly
lovely but deadly
sweet of voice and body all
But devilish to the last
And should be killed on sight”
…
So sing, sister –
Sing to your heart’s delight!