It was a relief that he should say in conversational tones, "In a place like this one might see the Siren" † Here only the fantastic would be tolerable, and it was in that spirit I echoed his words, "One might easily see the Siren."

"

What did he look like?     i ventured 

Like any one who has seen the Siren.  If you have seen her 'often and often' how is it you do not know? Unhappy, unhappy because he knew everything.  Every living thing made him unhappy because he knew it would die.  And all he cared to do was sleep 

he leaned back against the rock, breathing deep.  through all the blue-green reflections i saw him colour.  i heard him say:    Silence and loneliness cannot last for ever.  It may be a hundred or a thousand years, but the sea lasts longer, and she shall come out of it and sing.     (i would have asked him more, but at that moment the whole cave darkened, and there rode in through its narrow entrance the returning boat)  .

"

E . M .   F   O     R   S T E R 

eternal moment & other stories