Grandma and the Selkie
My grandmother came from Ireland
from far across the sea.
She had romantic tales to tell
to Sister and to me.
She angered my darling mother
by filling up our heads
with stories of the little folk
who lived beneath our beds.
She whispered us a secret that
our mama didn’t know.
She said that it would be better
if we would keep it so.
When she crossed the sea from Ireland,
she had a little lad.
He was already two years old
before she met Granddad.
She told Grandfather her story,
a selkie stole her heart.
He came as a handsome mortal
and fooled her from the start.
He loved her and then he left her,
was claimed back by the sea.
The only thing she had of him
was a wee lad to be.
She knew right from the start, her son
was borrowed fom the sea.
In time his tie to land would end
however long that be.
She watched him growing tall, with dread,
as handsome as his sire.
He wandered near or wandered far,
girls gathered to admire.
Before our eyes our grandma changed
and she became the girl
who long ago had loved a man
who set her heart awhirl.
He had deep eyes of darkest brown,
and unreal velvet skin.
He charmed her as no Irish lad
would know how to begin.
“Where is he then, our dear uncle?”
My sister and I cried.
“I guess the folks who knew him well,
would tell you that he died.
They saw him walking by the sea,
watching the tide come in.
Though we searched for many a day
he was not seen again.”
Now when I see the silky seals
on warm rocks in the sea
I fancy one is a selkie,
who looks a bit like me.
( I have read that male selkies are very handsome in their human form and have great seduction powers over mortal women. Poor grandma then was a young Irish lass, full of dreams and he was so handsome. In their true form they look very much like seals.)
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