"WHY SAILORS ARE COMPELLED TO RETURN TO THE SEA"
A MERMAID'S TEAR 



A mermaid to some sailor's sleep
May enter singing while she creeps
As his ship cruises on the sea
And kiss his lips so gingerly.
There, while he stirs in restless dreams
She'll shed a tear of gold that gleams.
A tear to fall from a precious eye
May haunt his heart that knows not why.
To seek again this very place,
To taunt his heart, to see her face,
To touch her skin so tenderly,
His lovely temptress of the sea.
For once her tears touch his arms
And he feels her magic charms,
He'll forever more, not be free
But roam forevper on the sea
In search of her, his apparition,
Whose guile and beauty boast ambition
To ensnare this mortal man
And keep him sailing from the Land.
Then when he's old but well recalls
Her song of mystic hallowed halls
He still may struggle with the tide
To once again be at her side.
And when the glow of life is gone
His grave at sea will not last long
For she will find him waiting there
And resurrect his form with care.
At last her sea of love long sought
By this sailor, finally caught,
Will present to this sailor's eyes
The one and only ocean's prize.
Away they'll coast on currents bound,
Away, alone, each other found
For once again her tears will touch
This homeless man who searched so much.
Never more to see the land
But each in arms that understand.
A life to live is not worth much
If one must live without love's touch
Sirena's Story

Guam's legendary mermaid, Sirena, lived in Agana during Spanish times near the Minondo River where fresh spring waters dividing the city of Agana met the ocean at the river's mouth (Bicana) not so far from the site of the statue above. She loved the water and was known to swim whenever she could steal a moment from her chores to satisfy her greatest pleasure.

One fateful day, Sirena's mother sent her to get coconut shells to be used as coal for the iron. Oblivious to time and duty, Sirena couldn't resist the refreshing river. There she swam while her mother called impatiently. Sirena's godmother happened to be visiting, and as her mother angrily cursed her daughter with the words, "Since Sirena loves the water more than anything, she should become a fish", her Nina (godmother) quickly interjected, "leave the part of her that belongs to me".

Unknown to mother, godmother, family and friends, Sirena was never to return home again, for feeling unusual sensations as she swam, she soon discovered that from the waist down she had become part fish.

Her mother, regretful of her curse, could not undo the outcome of fate. Bidding her loved ones farewell, Sirena swam out into the Pacific. Since her disappearance, seafarers have reported seeing her in different parts of the world. According to legend, she can only be caught with a net of human hair.

DYING TO SELF

The song of the Sirens call men to abandon themselves, to hurl into the deep, to sprout wings, to transform, to die to self and emerge into a new form with new knowledge and understanding. It is significant that Sirens are creatures of water for water has powerful symbolic value. Water is also a duality, it can sustain life, give comfort and it is a source of life and abundance. Water is the symbol we use for baptism and spiritual rebirth and renewal. It is the primordial soup, it represents purification and regeneration and it is the source from which each of us was born. Water however can also be destructive, causing inundation, drowning, annihilation and death. Sirens and mermaids embody all of these qualities and meanings and are thus symbols of both death and immortality. They call men to the unknown, to change and transformation the essential passage from one space to another, form one condition to another. They serve as escorts during times of transit, danger, transformation, uncertainty, sea voyages and missions of war. Sirens call man, urging him to abandon what he is, to become something new. Fear of Sirens is the fear of upsetting the established equilibrium, fear of the unknown, fear of transformation, fear of learning, fear of losing oneself, fear of being out of control and fear of descending into the deep (the unconscious)

~The Depths of the Sea - Edward Burne-Jones 1887


"A mermaid found a swimming lad, Picked him for her own, Pressed her body to his body, Laughed; and plunging down Forgot in cruel happiness That even lovers drown."
~William Butler Yeats