I Have Heard the Mermaids Singing 🧜🏿‍♀️

Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedI have heard the mermaids singing, each to each.

I do not think that they will sing to me.

I have seen them riding seaward 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 the chambers of the sea
By sea-girls wreathed with seaweed red and brown
Till human voices wake us, and we drown.

—The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock T. S. Eliot

I’ve just returned from visiting the outer island of Stronsay, one of the over seventy islands in the Orkney archipelago. When I told people I was going to Stronsay, they asked why. It’s not a tourist island, and there is little to cater to the visitors. It was easiest to say I was going to see seal pups—October the season for the little white puff balls with big black eyes. I didn’t mention the actual reason—I was going to research Scota Bess, a woman lynched on the island for allegedly practicing witchcraft. As this was an extrajudicial execution, no dated record exists as far as a know—her story is merely folklore at this point, and yet several places on the island are associated with her. Stronsay is an island of legends and tall tales, heartache and beauty. At the next two full moons, I’ll be writing up my field notes for paid subscribers. Of all the islands I have visited, Stronsay is the most fascinating.

Sir Patrick Spens (he of the ballad that bears his name—this is June Tabor’s version) is said to be buried on Papa Stronsay, the tiny island off Stronsay, now an island of Catholic monks.

On the full moons of November & December I’ll be writing about:

If the legendary Stronsay Beast really was a globster (and what is a globster, exactly)—How can you tell if an abandoned croft is truly haunted—Where is a good place for mermaids to sing on Stronsay—Who was the legendary witch Scota Bess and why do swans nest on her grave— Did I ever get to see a seal pup, after all—And more…

Become a paid subscriber to get access to my new moon field notes!