“What said he, that you seem so sad,
O fisher of the sea?
(Alack! I know it was my love,
Who fain would speak to me!)”
“He said, ‘Beware a woman's mouth—
A rose that bears a thorn.’”
“Ah, me I these lips shall smile no more
That gave my lover scorn.”
“He said, ‘Beware a woman's eyes.
They pierce you with their death.’ ”
“Then falling tears shall make them blind
That robbed my dear of breath.”
“He said, ‘Beware a woman's hair—
A serpent's coil of gold.’”
“Then will I shear the cruel locks
That crushed him in their fold.”
“He said, ‘Beware a woman's heart
As you would shun the reef.’”
“So let it break within my breast,
And perish of my grief.”
“He raised his hands: a woman's name
Thrice bitterly he cried:
My net had parted with the strain;
He vanished in the tide.”
“A woman's name! What name but mine,
O fisher of the sea?”
“A woman's name, but not your name,
Poor maiden Marjorie.”
7
