Darley’s Siren Chorus
https://frankzumbach.wordpress.com/2016/03/11/george-darley-dirge-siren-chorus/
Siren Chorus
Prayer unsaid, and Mass unsung,
Deadman’s dirge must still be rung:
Dingle-dong, the dead-bells sound!
Mermen chant his dirge around!
Wash him bloodless, smooth him fair,
Stretch his limbs, and sleek his hair:
Dingle-dong, the dead-bells go!
Mermen swing them to and fro!
In the wormless sand shall he
Feast for no foul glutton be:
Dingle-dong, the dead-bells chime!
Mermen keep the tone and time!
We must with a tombstone brave
Shut the shark out from his grave:
Dingle-dong, the dead-bells toll!
Mermen dirgers ring his knoll!
Such a slab will we lay o’er him,
All the dead shall rise before him:
Dingle-dong, the dead-bells boom!
Mermen lay him in his tomb.
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Troop home to silent grots and caves,
Troop home! and mimic as you go
The mournful winding of the waves
Which to their dark abysses flow.
At this sweet hour, all things beside
In amorous pairs to covert creep;
The swans that brush the evening tide
Homeward in snowy couples keep.
In his green den the murmuring seal
Close by his sleek companion lies;
While singly we to bedward steal,
And close in fruitless sleep our eyes.
In bowers of love men take their rest,
In loveless bowers we sigh alone,
With bosom-friends are others blest,—
But we have none! but we have none!
—George Darley
https://youtu.be/ghw91-Kybig
