Sirens on the Outer Shore

Do not stray to northward beaches,
Habited by sirens fair,
Put your eyes aside I beg you,
Lest you slip into despair,

Every one is monstrous jealous,
Aye, consumed by ravenous pride,
Walk amongst their fold with caution,
Lest you slip to Satan’s side,

Heed their ruby lips and whispers,
With a trepidatious mind,
Every saccharin proposal,
Is with cunning intertwined,

Every beauty is constructed,
From a most Hadean stuff,
Tethered to the hooks of hellfire,
On the sands below the bluff,

Aye, their perfect visage pleases,
Aye, their milky breasts are sweet,
Every stroke like summer breezes,
Every coaxing touch a treat,

But their song, though prepossessing,
Is an ode to devil’s dank,
Lullabies to dark destruction,
Shipwreck on the rocky bank,

Just last week there were three brothers,
Straying on that northern shore,
Filled with drink and merry laughter…
Each one placed at Sheol’s door!

Lust is but a fleeting fancy,
But, no less, a crime indeed,
Conjured by the sirens’ beauty;
Pulchritude of Satan’s seed,

Trips, and snares and woeful trap doors,
Activated with one smile,
Each unknowing wight a victim,
Of this fast bewitching guile,

Jesus is a name they scoff at,
Aye, because their fate is set,
Down among the low life crawling;
Everlasting, hellish debt,

Put your hand upon your Bible,
Carry it where’er you walk,
Cherish it as though your treasure;
Not e’en the beast will make you baulk,

Even in the grip of madness,
When the harp of hell is played,
Think on God above with gladness,
Faith your sword and stalwart blade,

I have rested on the clifftop,
Of a night, when ships come in,
Overseeing every temptress,
And their blackened souls within,

Stormy nights of rain and weather,
Doldrums still and tranquil quiet,
Every traveller that greets them,
Fodder for their dreadful diet,

The cross, the mighty cross, a life raft,
Naught but this can bring you through,
When the denizens of Hades,
Come to take your soul from you,

Pray on bended knee with gusto,
Pray to the one who bled and died,
Pray for peace and swift deliv’rance,
And that your sin be mortified…

AD Lovkis, 14/05/25