Fountain of salmacis

From a dense forest of tall dark pinewood
Mount Ida rises like an island.
Within a hidden cave, nymphs had kept a child:
Hermaphroditus, son of gods, so afraid of their love.
As the dawn creeps up the sky,
The hunter caught sight of a doe.
In desire for conquest,
He found himself within a glade he’d not beheld before.
HERMAPHRODITUS: NARRATOR:
Where are you, my father? Then he could go no farther.
Give wisdom Now lost, the boy was guided
to your son. by the sun.
And as his strength began to fail,
He saw a shimmering lake.
a shadow in the dark green depths
Disturbed the strange tranquility.
SALMACIS: NARRATOR:
The waters are disturbed. The waters are disturbed.
Some creature has been stirred. The naiad queen Salmacis
has been stirred.
As he rushed to quench his thirst,
A fountain spring appeared before him.
And as his heated breath brushed through the cool mist
A liquid voice called, “Son of gods, drink from my spring.”
The water tasted strangely sweet.
Behind him the voice called again.
He turned and saw her, in a cloak of mist alone,
And as he gazed, her eyes were filled with the darkness of the lake.
SALMACIS: NARRATOR:
We shall be one. She wanted them as one.
We shall be joined as one. Yet he had no desire to be one.
HERMAPHRODITUS: Away from me, cold-blooded woman.
Your thirst is not mine.
SALMACIS: Nothing will cause us to part.
Hear me, O Gods!
Unearthly calm ascended from the sky
And then their flesh and bones were strangely merged.
Forever to be joined as one.
The creature crawled into the lake.
A fading voice was heard:
“And I beg, that all who touch this spring
May share my fate.”
SALMACIS: NARRATOR:
We are the one. The two are now made one.
We are the one. Demi-god and nymph are now made one.
Both had given everything they had.
A lover’s dream had been fulfilled at last.
Forever still beneath the lake.