I read versions of the myth online, but I recall a slightly different version:
Narcissus sees his reflection in a pond and falls in love with the beautiful reflection. Bending to kiss it, he falls in the pond and ends up drowning and his namesake flowers spring from the ground beside the pond.
I can't find a version of the myth of Narcissus that has this particular means of demise in it, so I may have mis-remembered the myth. Either way it reminds me of the end of T.S. Eliot's poem, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" a poem that I often find this part of this poem inspirational.
We have lingered in the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and
brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown.
Inspired by Narcissus and Eliot and Poe, here is my poem
Narcissus loved himself; a sad downfall; floral eternity.
Mermaids sing to sailors; sailors sing back, leaning overboard and
Kissing wat'ry lips of death
Mermaids long to walk on land but breathing air would mean their demise.
Irony of ironies mermaids cannot live above
Anymore than we could dwell below.
I tried my hand at Trochaic Octometer but was not completely successful, but anyway there's today's poem!
NaPoWriMo Will Not Last Forevermore!
-Sharon
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