Let it never be said I slept through it. I never sleep

Lucy is dancing by herself,
on the wood floors that Sebastian laid,
from the ruins of his first lost ship,
to the music that Sebastian gave her,
it is the the keen of the wind, it sings her name,
In the shanty that Sebastian built her,
the shanty by the sea.

Sebastian said
"This is your castle,
your own watch tower,
for spotting mermaids
and singing with sirens.
And your face in the window
will be my lighthouse,
my bright and shining lighthouse".

The roof moans and bends
as the wind gasps around it,
shanty and wind make love,
but Lucy craves the sound,
because Sebastian told her
"All storms which rage around us here
are just the sound of love,
so furious is my love of thee.“

Tonight her old voice lifts,
like a loose violin string,
and with the storm, she sings

"My tears are in a bottle, love,
every single one I've cried,
and I've bottled up the ocean love,
to command ye home tonight."

Lucy is a sailor's wife, always will be, all her life

It all happened
(by the luck of the sea, you might say)
once when Lucy was dancing
in the city square, to music, flat but happy
and Sebastian,
who happened to be passing there,
saw her and could not look away, no,
he could not walk away.

And so it was
that Sebastian of the sea
danced with Lucy of the land,
and crashed over her,
ever more to return to her like the tide.
He smelled of salt and wind
and she of earth and clover,
and when he walked Lucy home that night,
he stood outside her door 'till dawn,
considering this love of Lucy,
more furious than a hurricane,
stronger than the tide,
truer than the guiding star,
and there he vowed to love her, evermore.
Once, when Lucy asked him why he stayed that night,
Sebastian replied

"If a man's going to fall in love, let him fling open his heart, let him know what he's done. Let it never be said I slept through it, I never sleep."

Sebastian begged and coaxed his Lucy-girl
to sail with him one Autumn late.
Lucy never loved the sea,
who was the other woman,
the one Lucy always found in his eyes
and smelled on his shirts,
the only one he ever left her for.
But Lucy loved Sebastian dear,
and so to light his fervent face,
she abandoned her ribbons and her lace,
and tied her hair up and packed her pen,
to sail with her Sebastian.

Not even a day from shore,
the sky burst black, and drop'd a purple veil of rain
and stirred the sea.
That silent wide, that roaring deep
which leapt upon the starboard deck,
to snatch poor Lucy to it's hungry depths.
But Sebastian cursed his mistress wild,
and fought for Lucy, terrified.
For hours through the blood-black night he battled fierce,
till finally the ocean flung them hard,
and shattered his ship to hopeless shards.
But Sebastian, whom the sea loves best,
held his Lucy to his chest
and swam for land and swam for life,
and the sea would not take him down that night.
And so they reached the shore at dawn,
his ship strewn on the bitter sand,
Lucy wondered at his strength and this answer her Sebastian gave;

"If a man's going to fight the sea, let him fling open his arms, let him know what he's done. Let it never be said I slept through it. I never sleep"

The night before Lucy's birthday, once,
Sebastian asked her for her wish,
inclined his ear for her to whisper there
whatever thing would please her best.
And Lucy laughed and shook her head
for he filled her heart so full she desired no other thing
But he insisted and so she made up impossible riddles, saying
"I would like to catch the wind in a net so I wake every morn' to hear it sing my name,
for 'tis the only sound I could fathom that might be gentler than the sound of you.
And I would like to have a mermaid for a friend,
for I am certain that she might be the only one whose tales and thoughts, full of wonder wild ,might compare to yours.
And I would like a gull, Sebastian,
who would bring me messages of you, safe and whole and sailing home, when my arms are empty of you.
For I am fervent convinced that I shall always ever hold only you."
Sebastian inclined his face,
which life and sea have carved strong and dear,
and seeing Lucy's eyes sincere,
said "So be it, wife".

That sailor tucked her safe abed,
and went out to the night,
where the sky,
that familiar cynosure,
sapphire ice
encrusted,
became his treasure map.

And as the sun's eyes
stretched radiant open, wind chimed and whistled
and moaned and laughed
in cataclysmic harmony.
Looked she out her window and there beheld,
dangling from the rafters, a net,
with chimes and shells and bits of sail,
and hanging flutes, strung together with ribbons
and tied with intricate sailors knots,
catching the wind and singing her name,
and no sweeter sound has ever been given to the ears of man,
and likely never shall again.
Turning to the pillow beside her,
she found not the mariner she loved,
but a small looking glass and a book,
empty save the first page,
on which a letter was penned

"My Lucy love, You are the only mermaid I have ever known. If I searched the sea, from corner to cove, I would never find a mystery brighter, or fascination sweeter, for you are the only magic beautiful in water or on land. So tell your stories to this book, and know that here you can read the words of the best friend I could give you."

Lucy trembled so, and required him then.
So she went out to find him and overhead,
the gulls played, their call steeped in and dripping wanderlust.
And lifting her hand to her eyes, Lucy the young sailor's wife
asked the gulls above "What word have you?
Which wind will bear him to me, that I might turn my face and know,
for I miss his life and soul"

But the gulls would give her no reply,
and left her standing cold and dry
of the answer she demanded.

So she went to the shore to question The Lady vast,
whose shapely waves seemed to haughty laugh,
whose ancient beautiful voice did craft
no answer which could satisfy.
But that soulless surf carried to her toes
a shredded pennant which bore a rose,
the very flag Sebastian flew to say
“Lucy, I’ve come home to you”

And Lucy wailed, in angry rage “You thief, foul harlot, and siren sage, you’ve taken him, I know you have, You’ll have me too before the last”

She watches for him still, they say,
watching at the window, both night and day,
and late at night you can hear her cry

“If a woman is going to lose her love, let her fling open her heart, let her know what she’s done. Let it never be said I slept through it. I never sleep”

Lucy is a sailor's wife, always will be, all her life