The Mermaid Poem by William Crafts

Child of neither land nor sea,
Yet to both of them allied;
Offspring of a fair ladye,
Who in depths of ocean died.

Wretched on her coral bed,
Far beneath the purple sea,
Ere the vital spark had fled,
Thus my mother pray'd for me.

'Gracious Heaven! let one atone,
Seal my aching eyes in night;
Save my little unborn one,
Let my orphan see the light.'

Cradled in the stormy wave,
Sea-nymphs watch'd my infant sleep;
Nurs'd upon my mother's grave,
God preserv'd me in the deep.

Human head, and hands, and heart,
Heaven in mercy gave to me,
Still that I might seem a part
Of the human family.

Yet to fit me for the cave,
Where the ocean fountains flow,
Safely to o'ercome the wave,
Made me like a fish below.

Many such as me there are,
Vestals of the virgin billow;
Neither envy nor despair,
Man us on our sedgy pillow

Sing we in the soothing strain,
When the bark securely flies;
Mourn we in the howling main,
When the gallant vessel dies.