Hogarth:The Enraged Musician The Mermaid Pew in Zennor Church, Cornwall She bends her tail in balance with the pew, wide-breasted girl, entangling the church.
Her belly shines where fishermen have touched with rope-singed hands the round umbilicus.
The carver dug each nipple from the grain and separated out two sturdy fins.
He chiselled gifts she holds up in both hands, the mirror and the comb in truthful oak.
Half fish, half girl, she symbolises Christ whose dual nature tethers souls to heaven.
And both claimed lives, singing out their promises: ‘Let down your nets and I will give you love’.
He walked on water, certain of his bearings but, flowing with the tides, she is the sea.
Jill Bamber The above poem is from Images of Women, an anthology edited by Myra Schneider and Dilys Wood (Arrowhead Press, Darlington, in association with Second Light, 2006).
The above poem is from Images of Women, an anthology edited by Myra Schneider and Dilys Wood (Arrowhead Press, Darlington, in association with Second Light, 2006).