Hubris

This is a poem I wrote for a contest. Slightly inspired by Rimbaud and Donne.

 Mesmerizing is the pool by which I sit every day,

it sings to me, and soothes me;

its surface mirrors me and flatters my countenance,

as the lapping waves I let kiss my wayward feet.

“It’s deeper than it looks,” they say,

But I know better.

 

The waters seduce me, and tempt me to float idly in them;

they whisper and smile in their slippery way.

Never have I heard words more sweetly uttered:

“Succumb, succumb, sleep, my lily, and slip away.”

“It’s haunted,” they say,

But I know better.

 

What harm can there be in a moment’s bath?

The sun by the water has never beamed more fiercely;

and the liquid is so unusually clear, so cool on my smoldering skin.

It calls to me like Odysseus’ sirens; without a crew, I must obey.

“Don’t go back there,” they say,

But nothing keeps me.

 

The water embraces me and is all that I’d imagined;

it lulls me and rocks me as a child.

I am washed in euphoria, as if a dream has overtaken;

content as I am to sleep, now, forever.

I have succumbed �" “stay away from there,” they said,

I should have listened.

Author's Note

Please, be harsh and critical. Criticisms are infinitely more valuable than praises. Thank you.