Sirens Are Real

Quietly she perched on the rock, listening to the slap of saltwater. It wasn’t a sunny day, but it was a warm and beautiful day nonetheless. Her eyes felt at home as they scanned the grey clouded sky. She drew a deep breath allowing the humid air to fill her lungs and let out a musical sigh. She smiled as voices of young sailors floated through the fog to her ears. A ship was coming. She loved the ships, with their harsh wood hulls and soft white sails. Most days she would call to the sailors as she sat atop the rocks, but not today, the fog was thick near the water and she just wanted to listen to the muffled sound of men tending to their duties. Today she wanted to hear the sailors sing.

Grandpa loved to tell the children stories of great men that lived out their lives sailing across the sea. Most of his stories were nonsense, full of mystery and laced with adventures; others were his own interpretation of the history he had been taught as a boy. I always sat quietly with full attention as he made his way through each tale. When the sun hid behind dark clouds he would talk about beautiful women, sweet kisses and gentle love. All of his tales helped me find a sense of adventure within my spirit as a child, but only one story left me curious and that was the story of the siren. I knew they were real by the intensity of his words as he led my imagination through the sea. He would talk of the siren’s song and as he closed his eyes you could see a tears form in the corner of his eyes. Yes, this memory was real; it wasn’t until I was much older that I fully understood his reason for avoiding family trips to the ocean. I was never lucky enough to meet a siren, but as I aged I would tell my grandson the same stories that had been shared with me. It was as I lay in a hospital bed breathing in the last bits of my life that my grandson told me the tale of the modern siren. His eyes were wide and furious and his voice seemed to quiver as he spoke. This woman had changed him, she had broken his calm, set free his spirit and instilled in him a passion so strong that he could barely speak of her without shouting.

There was something intense, strange and beautiful about her. She drew the attention from men as she passed them on the street. Each of them were left with a puzzled but wanting look on their face, she stirred something deep within them with just her presence. Men wanted her, not in the usual way a man wants for a woman, but in a deeper and desperate way as if she filled their hollow spaces with music. She had a simple beauty and always smelled like a light ocean breeze on a sunny day. Her lips were soft and sweet and her smile drew you in, but it was her eyes that enchanted and trapped your mind. They were neither blue nor green, but the color of the angry sea throwing its waves at the rocks. Her laugh was light and playful, but you couldn’t help but sense something deep and mysterious hidden beneath the surface. Even without speaking you couldn’t help but wonder how this woman knew your deepest secrets. Her presence completely enveloped you and left you feeling as if you were the only two people on the earth.

Men wanted nothing more than to stay in her company forever though she never stayed for long. She merely floated into your life like a dandelion seed and as soon as the wind picked up just enough it would float her away, leaving you cold and hungry for her. Very few were lucky enough to hold her in their arms, even fewer knew the terrain of her perfect skin. Her kisses were gentle and her love was soft and strong. Many called her an angel and some thought of her as a devil, but she was neither of those things. She was a siren and she always left a sweet, but sad melody stirring in their minds as she left their beds. It was then he realized no one could ever have her, no man would ever call her his own. She lived to show others how to love.

The passion and intensity she had loved him with has never left. In a way it was her gift to him and in breaking him she was able to show that love can be passionate, deep, and intense. She loved him with all of her, she gave herself in every way and in turn she taught him to do the same for others. She wasn’t afraid to love, she wasn’t afraid to live. Even the simple things she did enchanted him. He spent hours just watching her, listening to her talk about nonsense. He loved the silly way she was always humming a sad tune or singing lullabies to the shadows. He desperately loved her and he always will.