THE SIRENS.

By Madison Julius Cawein

Wail! wail! and smite your lyres’ sonorous gold,

And beckon naked beauty from the sea

In arms and breasts and hips of godly mold,

Dark, strangling hair carousing to the knee.

In vain! in vain! and dull in unclosed ears

To one loved voice sweet calling o'er the foam,

Which in my heart like some strong hand appears

To gently, firmly draw my vessel home.