Sea Girl

A sun-kissed summer of beachy ozone and warm skin musk with languidly sensual elements of wild jasmine, sugar cane, double pearl tuberose, hibiscus tea, coconut water, key lime, mandarin, white rum, and clean white patchouli. Shall I part my hair? Do I dare to eat a peach? I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk along the beach. I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each. I do not think they sing to me. I have seen them riding seaweed on the waves Combing the white hair of the waves blown back When the wind blows the water white and black. We have lingered in chambers of the sea By sea-girls wreathed with sea-weed of red and brown Till human voices wake us, and we drown. - T.S.Eliot, Sea Girls Art: Wahine and Tiki by Marguerite Blasingame, c.1930s