I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each./
I do not think that they will sing to me./
I have seen them riding seaward on the waves/
Combing the white hair of the waves blown back/
When the wind blows the water white and black./
We have lingered in the chambers of the sea/
By the sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown/
Till human voices wake us and we drown./
- T.S. Eliot, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"