Yeats’s “The Mermaid”

(c) Royal Academy of Arts; Supplied by The Public Catalogue Foundation
(c) Royal Academy of Arts; Supplied by The Public Catalogue Foundation

This is just a neat little poem by William Butler Yeats that I have loved for years:

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.

Thoughts?  Comments?