songs – P.K. Merlott

Awake, who sleep in water’s grave,
And hear leviathan call
Drowned men and maids from every sea
Come dance at Neptune’s ball.

Who cares if you be young or old
what age have salt and brine?
The earth shall hold your yesterdays
The wind take your designs

Leave your sunken rusted ships
your sky planes where they fell
Come, murder’d girls and mariners
And dance at Neptune’s ball.

Did you die ‘neath ice or storm?
Or drown by act of war?
Do mothers wait at home for you?
Speak their names no more.

For now the merfolk come in ranks
with kelp to trim his hall
to greet you haunted sailing men
Who dance at Neptune’s Ball

Bring what pearls and evening gowns
The sea has not consumed
But leave behind your earthly cares
Your waiting brides and grooms

Hasten, ‘ere the chamber shuts
And kraaken cracks the bell!
And cursed be they who did not come
To dance at Neptune’s ball.

Disclaimer: I don’t write poetry because I think it’s stupid™ (read: hard), but this one came to me in response to a twitter #vss365 prompt, and there seemed to be some themes I wanted to explore a little further. Again, for the record, I think poetry is stupid™. And I know rhymed couplets are passé, but whatever.

I’m not a musician but I woke up this morning with the chorus for this song in my head. The verses just kind of came after. I don’t know if it counts as a very short story but I thought I’d put it down, with a rough attempt at chords. I think the tune it came to me with was Burl Ives’ A Little Bitty Tear. I’ve added some suggested chords on the chorus and verse.

CHORUS
[C]There’s an uninvited guest at our [G7] wedding
She’s prettier than I could ever [C]be
She’s standing right up there, at the [F] altar
[C]Where I always [G7]pictured you and[C] me.

VERSE
[C]I wonder why nobody[G7]noticed
How come no one asked her to [C] go
When she started walking down the [F] aisle
[C]Towards the only [G7] love I’ll ever [C] know.

[chorus]

You swore that we were meant for one another
You said that we’d get married at the beach
And mumbled something else about the timing
Somehow it was always out of reach

[chorus]

I put on Momma’s dress Sunday morning
But as soon as I walked in, I could see
of all the fancy people in the chapel
The only uninvited one was me.

There’s an uninvited guest at your wedding
A girl you thought you’d left in the past
Who finally found her way back to you
So we can be together, at last

I told the priest to stop talking
I tried to call out your name
But an angel tapped me on the shoulder
and dragged me back to heaven once again.

There’s an uninvited guest at your wedding
The girl who still loves you so
Who sometimes forgets that she died
And still hasn’t learned to let you go.

Tag: songs

Neptune’s Ball

Uninvited Guest