Quest For A Mermaid Poem by Chibueze Oscar Osuji

The creator my strength! Till my dying death:
Heaven breathes, like a dragon my inks burn;
Inscribe my tale how I left this earth:
Rebelled from land, to the sea I'll return:

As the first son of a king, I had all:
Pearls, silver, platinum and gold:
The strength and might at my sight all men fall:
I ne'er had a lass' love, my heart grew cold:

Singing bards played, but nothing amused me:
Land maidens from north, south, east and west came:
Neither the harps nor maidens brought me glee:
None did my soul sought for, none will my heart claim:

I left land for good, a kind heir I was:
Leaving the carpet of the walking feet:
Dropping my throne without a single pause:
To the deep blue, I'll go to the sea beneath:

Sisters did warn:
Brothers did scorn:
My zeal did burn:
I carried on:

Tow'ring my distress soul atop a raft:
Floating in the deep sea, floating for love:
Eating the sea lettuce left in the aft:
My heart sought for a mermaid oh! by jove:

Sailing through seasons of fire and of ice:
Clogged my ears away from nature's advice:
Blindfolded my thoughts away from my eyes:
Surfed the sea waiting for my mermaid prize:

Gentle wind blow atlantis unto me:
Sink my floating raft to a memaid's gulf:
To harvest the love that tread in the sea:
Where a fin-maiden dwells, I'll stare as goof:

With a mermaid's love my heart beams plenty:
Without her sweet love my heart stays empty:

Morning will be mourning:
The night will be my fright:
The bed shall remain warm:
Awaits my sober form:

Like a sea-nymph I swum the sea:
Gliding about through the unsteady blue:
As any sea-monster will do:
To grasp a view of the mermaid I'll see:

I hear the loud clapping bolts of thunder:
Now my tympanums go deaf to their calls:
Dear nature goes raging and asunder:
Swinging me below angry waterfalls:

When the angry sea thus rage round about:
Holding shields of faith I'll cast away doubt:
Sinking low beneath the raft I once laid:
To find vague existence of a mermaid:

Swum till my limbs went numb:
My flaccid lips went dumb:
Yet there was no sound of a mermaid's voice:
Now i knew leaving land was a wrong choice:

I kept wand'ring in the sea all in vain:
Ne'er did I find a place a mermaid had lain:
No mermaid fins, just glitt'ring fins of sharks:
To late to retreat to terrestrial arks:

Dawning:
Morning:
Bunrning:
Mourning:
I'll ne'er see the dawning morning sky:
My eyes steam with burning mourning cry:

Oh! remember me as the puny man:
Who floats from sea to sea through now and then:
Unlucky like ev'ry breathing human:
You'll find my corpse ashore admidst sea fern:

Gentle down the sinking sea my corpse drops:
In death I'd ne'er found the mermaid I seek:
Pray my love nurture the seaweed and crops:
If a mermaid pass-by, my love they'll speak: