Siren Waters

1.

Poised on the Hellespont's
black tide,
smeared with the ash of Troy
I ride,
proud on the high-pitched prow,
breasting the breeze.

2.

Approaching dream landfall,
I dive:
fingertips probe upswept weed
for silver coins, a Grecian hoard -
but what is Leander to me?

3.

Crossing the Dardanelles
by night,
I see words pale
on the land's dark face:
"This earth you tread unaware
is where an age submerged..."

4.

Transformed in dream
the earth recedes;
half fish, half woman
I tread sea -
my lover calls me from the shore,
but I must dive in algae
and sift the ooze for silver coins
to pay the ferry captain,
plying his boat to Leander
across the dark water...



*Leander (Leandros), a youth of Abydos
(a city-colony of antiquity, near Troy),
was in love with Hero, the priestess of
Aphrodite at Sestos, on the opposite shore
of the Hellespont (now the Dardanelles)
in Thrace. Every night, Leander swam the
Hellespont to Hero, and swam back across
the strait before daybreak. On a night
of storm he perished in the waves.
The next morning his body was washed
ashore at Sestos, whereupon Hero threw
herself into the sea.

That it is possible to swim the Hellespont
between Sestos and Abydos was later
demonstrated by Byron.