Siren Song Poem by Margaret Atwood

Siren Song

Rating: 4.0


This is the one song everyone
would like to learn: the song
that is irresistible:

the song that forces men
to leap overboard in squadrons
even though they see beached skulls

the song nobody knows
because anyone who had heard it
is dead, and the others can’t remember.
Shall I tell you the secret
and if I do, will you get me
out of this bird suit?
I don’t enjoy it here
squatting on this island
looking picturesque and mythical
with these two feathery maniacs,
I don’t enjoy singing
this trio, fatal and valuable.

I will tell the secret to you,
to you, only to you.
Come closer. This song

is a cry for help: Help me!
Only you, only you can,
you are unique

at last. Alas
it is a boring song
but it works every time.

COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Tonya Fleming 26 November 2022

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Dr Dillip K Swain 24 November 2022

I will tell the secret to you, to you, only to you. Come closer...lovely expression.

0 0 Reply
MAHTAB BANGALEE 24 November 2022

siren is the mirage of death; it's song but none ever heard! it's a trap; the mundane life as like as the song!

0 0 Reply
Michael Morgan 15 February 2014

a wonderful admission- zany and sneaky- of inside/outside incongruity, MM

8 11 Reply
Dzekashu MacViban 09 January 2008

A wonderful mystico-mythical yet simple individualistic and appealing poem.A kinda SOS.

33 39 Reply
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